Robyn de Groot (Biogen Toyota) and Catherine Williamson (Asrin Cycling) teamed up to claim the win in the women’s category at the FNB Wines2Whales Race at the weekend.
Robyn de Groot (right) and Catherine Williamson are greeted at the finish line of stage one of the FNB Wines2Whales after finishing the stage in second place. Photo: Cherie Vale / Newsport Media
The first stage kicked off on Friday and featured a 74km race from Lourensford Wine Estate to Oak Valley with Candice Neethling (Time Freight VeloLife) and Jennie Stenerhag (Cape Brewing Co.) taking the win, followed by De Groot and Williamson.
“Unfortunately Catherine was feeling a bit ill and wasn’t able to race at 100%. But she still gave what ever she had and we were able to at least stay within sight of the race lead,” said De Groot on Friday evening.
The second stage took place over a circular 64km route that started and finished at Oak Valley. De Groot and Williamson won the stage and secured a big enough lead over second placed stage finishers, Neethling and Stenerhag.
“Catherine was a lot better today and we were eager to take the stage win. The racing was close though which is great for women’s racing where there isn’t always this much depth. Fortunately we got enough time to get the overall lead and will be defending that with everything we have on the final stage,” said De Groot after Saturday’s leg.
The last stage was a 73.5km haul from Oak Valley to Onrus. De Groot and Williamson won the stage ahead of Neethling and Stenerhag.
“It was a great contest today! Apparently Candice and Jennie saw us on the last long climb, which motivated them. We actually weren’t aware that they were that close and we decided to take no risks on the last section of singletrack.
“That’s where they closed the gap on us and for the last couple of kilometres it was an all out effort to get the stage win,” said De Groot.
View the results here.
