It’s Not Always About Hard Work | M&G PE PLETT STAGE 2

Life isn’t all about suffering. Sometime it is just about enjoying the easier things, the nicer things. While a lot of stage race events might feel the need to make each of their days pretty tough to ensure the riders get “bang for their buck”, the M&G PE PLETT sees things differently. A relaxed and gentle route through the Tsitsikamma forest and surrounds and a day without the hassle of packing up your gear for moving race villages, that is what Stage 2 is about. A day to enjoy the journey and the little slice of heaven that this neck of the Garden Route woods is.

At 59km in length with 800m of climbing along quiet forest roads and through lush green farmlands with short sections of single track built just for this event, neither the stats or the terrain put much strain on the riders for the day. The last 10km, after a quick kick from the M&G Iced Coffee Boost Bar, drew a sweat from a few brows as the route took everyone down a long descent into a forested valley before a lengthy but steady climb back out to the race village. A bit of work but it wasn’t anything that was about to ruin your day! All in all, a pleasant day in the saddle for this group of travellers.

Now just because the route wasn’t trying to make things hard that doesn’t mean the racers are going to saunter through the 59km stage. Every little lump in the elevation profile was contested and the tempo was kept high on the flats as every racing team tried to wear down the others before the final climb to home. 

“A lot of jeep track and some fast racing today. The M&G KOM was pretty early on so that made the racing quite intense at the beginning but luckily Tristan and I managed to get away on the last climb.” said Stage winner Marc Pritzen of Honeycomb Pro Cycling.  The sentiment was shared by Herman Fourie, racing with Kai von During for Trek SA X Insect Science; “There was a lot of action on every single climb. The last 10 kms we split up a little bit, it was a bit of a drag race to the finish.”

The tussle between Honeycomb Pro Cycling, Trek SA X Insect Science, and VEC Titan Racing went down to the wire, only splitting up on the final km of the short stage. “Tristan [Nortje] went hard at the bottom of the climb and then closer to the top I went to the front and figured ‘it’s all or nothing now’ and we managed to get a gap and luckily it held. It’s fairly technical coming into the finish and that last right hander always catches me by surprise, leaving me stuck grinding a hard gear up there but yeah, we had a good finish!” recounts Pritzen.

The Honeycomb Pro Cycling riders extend their GC lead but it was certainly a more exciting stage from a racing perspective. With some big climbing to comer on Stage 3, the competition is heating up. Matthew Leppan and Jordan Haarpainter (Grand Africa) managed to hold the wheel of the top 3 teams for a little longer on the second stage but slipped off shortly before the 30km mark, finishing 4th on the stage as per the previous day.

The fight for the Mixed Team title was also one of narrow escapes today. Alex Lawrence of eFort Foodlovers said “In the beginning, Kelsey went for the KOM and obviously we just stuck to them there, we didn’t want to burn any matches there as we knew about the last climb. During the stage we actually just sat and kept a good tempo. Not too easy, just to burn the legs a bit on the steady drags.”

Teams eFort Foodlovers and Ultimate Quest were inseparable until that final ascent. Lawrence broke down the race winning move in these words; “The last climb has a small descent before it and we got a 10 meter gap going into the climb out of the valley because we did push a bit hard on the descent. Then I told Elrika ‘Let’s go’ and we just went full gas. My eyes were bleeding, everything was bleeding, haha. We gave it everything all the way to the top. When we were getting to the top we had a 50m gap then it was a 100m gap. I just told Elrika at the 1km-to-go mark, it is now everything or nothing, we didn’t put in this effort for nothing, we might as as well just go to the end! Ja it was an awesome day out, proper racing but its good fun. An awesome day at PE PLETT.”

Sidney Strydom of Ultimate Quest struggled with a stick jumping up into his derailleur when the attack was being made on the final climb, hindering the team’s ability to respond. They fought will all they had but the chips hadn’t fallen favourably for the 2nd GC team. 2 more days lie ahead to change that narrative.

It appeared to be a faster day for the leading women’s team of Mandi Augustyn and Juanita Mackenzie (Elements) as well. While they finished 22nd on the stage,  (one position back from Stage 1), their stage time relative to the leaders was proportionally quicker than the previous stage. Juanita was hammering hard according to Mandi’s comments on the finish line, but they both enjoyed the stage nonetheless!

“Today was my kind of day. Nice rolling hills. Mandi took some shots but we just worked together as a team. It was a lekker day out with views of the ocean and all that. There was a bit of climbing at the end. We spiced it up with the CycloPro boys and left them in our dust so that was fun!” said Juanita. 

Returning home to the Tsitsikamma Lodge and Spa is a real pleasure. Knowing the lay of the land and having all of your kit unpacked form the day before, riders took the opportunity to hit the pool and cool off before savouring the delicious burgers and generous cheese spread from Foodlovers while kicking back on the lawn to catch up on the day’s events.

Professionally led stretch sessions are on offer in the afternoon for those looking to limber up a bit and enhance their recovery from the stage while Gerald de Kock hosts a Sunset Session each day with some of the notable characters from The Ride, sharing interesting stories and insights from the lives they’ve lived. The whole ride village is a relaxed and intimate atmosphere, very different to what you’ll find at bigger mass participation events. It’s easy to find your own space and groove or jump into new social circles if you’re more of the extrovert!

After an easy day on the bike and a slow afternoon at the Tsitsikamma Lodge and Spa, riders should be more than ready to tackle the infamous Soloko ascent to the top of the Kareedouw Escarpment on Stage 3. It is a 59km stage with 1200m of climbing, a little tougher than what was ridden on Stage 2 but nothing that will dampen the good vibes! Catch the Stage and GC results below and tune in on the M&G PE PLETT social media tomorrow to see what the mountains hold for our travelling band of riders.

2024 M&G PE PLETT – Stage 2 Results

Male Teams

1. Team Honeycomb ( Marc Pritzen and Tristan Nortje) | Stage – 01:55:59 | GC – 04:18:01

2. Trek SA X Insect Science (Kai von During and Herman Fourie) | Stage – 01:56:22 | GC – 04:22:44

3. ⁠Valley Electrical Titan Racing (Matthys Beukes and Roussouw Bekker) | Stage – 01:56:30 | GC – 04:23:12

Female Teams

1. Elements (Mandi Augustyn and Juanita Mackenzie) | Stage – 02:31:52 | GC – 5:45:48

2. Team Vered (Sally Andrews and Wendy Long) | Stage – 03:45:17 | GC – 08:02:36

3. GoGirls (Marika Ince and Sanet du Toit) | Stage 04:07:36 | GC – 09:23:03

Mixed Teams – Stage 

1. eFort Foodlovers (Alex Lawrence and Elrika Harmzen) | Stage – 02:19:21

2. Ultimate Quest (Kelsey van Schoor and Sidney Strydom) | Stage – 02:19:57

3. ⁠Norfolk Enchants (Warwick Renard and Christine Harding) | Stage – 02:37:33

Mixed Teams – GC

1. eFort Foodlovers (Alex Lawrence and Elrika Harmzen) | GC – 05:13:39

2. Ultimate Quest (Kelsey van Schoor and Sidney Strydom) | GC – 05:20:16

3. Invicta (Arnou Oberholzer and Marisca Steyn) | GC – 06:02:09

Solo Male

1. Rogan Smart | Stage – 02:03:04 | GC – 04:35:11

2. ⁠Alexander Araujo | Stage – 02:19:36 | GC – 05:14:32

3. ⁠Andrew van Blommestein | Stage – 02:23:17 | GC – 05:30:50

Solo Female – Stage

1. Marni Sumbal | Stage – 02:29:38

2. Annamarie Jacobsz | Stage – 02:41:59

3. Yvonne Cornes | Stage – 02:44:13

Solo Female – GC

1. Marni Sumbal | GC – 05:43:24

2. Annamarie Jacobsz | GC – 06:14:44

3. YAndrea van Blommestein | GC – 06:19:25

2024 M&G PE PLETT – Stage 2 Results E-Bikes

Male Teams

1. Pofadders (David Louw and Christie Botha) | Stage – 02:06:47 | GC – 05:13:31

Female Teams

1. Foodlovers Ladies (Gina Wills and Allenore Willemse) | Stage – 02:23:28 | GC – 05:35:04

Mixed Teams

1. Coastal Cruisers (Penelope Hulett and Greg West) | Stage – 02:22:01 | GC – 05:43:12

Solo Male

1. Nevil Hulett | Stage – 02:22:01 | GC – 04:56:40

Solo Female

1. Tania Pfaff | Stage – 02:22:01 | GC – 04:36:52