Altech Autopage’s Chris Wolhuter, riding alongside Jarryd Haley, is one of the top contenders in the inaugural Liberty Cape Winelands MTB Encounter. Here are his thoughts after stage one.
After dodging some traffic we finally arrived at the time-honoured Lanzerac Wine Farm on Friday morning for the first stage of the inaugural Liberty Cape Winelands Encounter.
The event dreamt up by people such as Johan Kriegler (MTB Adventures) and Wynand de Villiers (ASG Events) has been kept small in its first year, with it being capped and sold out at 150 riders.
Altech Autopage Pro Cycling’s Jarryd Hayley and Chris Wolhuter wins stage one of the Liberty Cape Winelands MTB Encounter. Photo: Full Stop Communications
The three-day race started in Stellenbosch with the first stage ending in Franschhoek. The second takes riders from Franschhoek to Doolhof Wine Estate in Wellington, with the final stage a lap of the famed Welvenpas trails in Wellington, again ending at Doolhof.
With a change in racing schedule there was a last minute opportunity for me to take part in this event alongside Jarryd Hayley from Rocky Mountain.
The emphasis of the event is not placed on the racing front, and we did try to be civil off the start line this morning.
After railing some berms at the G-spot, getting some air and pretending to be Greg Minnaar, we were off to the first serious climb of the day, and being civil was quickly forgotten.
The Pretoria Box U23 team impressed and challenged up the steeper slopes until we were able to dislodge them near the top of the climb and open the gap on the Skyfall trails into Bartinney – well worth the climb I might add.
A strong headwind became our next foe as Jarryd and I fought our way up the Franschhoek wine valley edging closer to the finish line at the luxurious Le Franschhoek Hotel.
Ultimately we managed to win the stage with the Flandria team second. Unfortunately the Pretoria Box youngsters suffered mechanical troubles and finished a long way off the pointy end.
Get the full results of the Liberty Cape Winelands MTB Encounter here.
