PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - With the ever-present threat of worsening weather looming last weekend, riders at the 2023 Dr Evil Classic raced not only against each other, but also against the weather.
Luckily they managed to finish just before the worst of the weather rolled in, Aaron Pietersen and Robyn de Groot the men's and women's winners.
The 2023 Dr Evil Classic was held from Thursday to Saturday, 21 to 23 September, and the three-day stage race's routes provided exceptional riding throughout, despite rain making Friday's Stage 2 a muddy affair in places. Wittedrift High School hosted registration and the start of Stage 1.
The school's pupils gave the riders an exuberant send-off, which set the scene for the rest of the event. With the claps, cheers and singing of the scholars ringing in their ears the Dr Evil Classic competitors took to the trails.
Riding the route
Day one saw a mix of dual track, through pastures and into the depths of the Knysna Forest, before the route took on the Petrus-se-Brand singletrack. After classic indigenous forest racing, it snaked up Bracken Ridge and into pine plantations.
The final kilometres of the stage, to Cairnbrogie, teased with a section of MTO's stunning trails, which would provide much of the playground for the following two days.
Stage 2 and 3 began and finished at Cairnbrogie and boasted singletracks aplenty. Friday did however feature a wet and muddy start, after overnight rain persisted into the morning. Once the sun came out at about 10:00, the day warmed and the tracks dried. Route director Erik Klootwyk rerouted the course to avoid the trails that were more likely to become waterlogged or to be damaged by the 350 sets of tyres rolling through them. As a result, Saturday's final stage was shortened too, removing low-lying sections of Cairnbrogie's trails.
Race outcomes
This did not affect the excitement levels however. "Stage 3 was an all-out effort," Pietersen laughed. "Just 25km of full gas, with lots of great singletracks." On the final day, the race winner also added the prize for the fastest ascent of the Alp d'Joe trail to his haul of three stage victories. For this Pietersen was awarded a Switchbag.
The talented young rider's final general classification margin of victory was 16 minutes, over Stephen du Preez, with Conway Oliver a further three minutes back.
In the solo women's competition De Groot was virtually unchallenged. In fact, the multiple South African mountain bike marathon champion was comfortably inside the top 10 on all three days, bested only by a handful of men, some of whom raced on eBikes. "I haven't ridden a mountain bike race since I retired from elite race in May last year," De Groot said. "It was great to get back to taking part, even though I wasn't focused on racing again. The trails here in Plett are truly spectacular and living in the Garden Route we're very spoilt by riding here." Marta Jekot was the second lady over the line, with Emma Pienaar third.
Even more winners
Scott Sports Africa gave away a Scott Strike eRide bike as part of the festivities. The winner of the bike and the Bosch Fontus 18V cordless leisure cleaner was Marnus Steyn. He and nine fellow finalists were selected from a pool of over 800 entries to a social media competition, before he won the lucky draw for the grand prize.
You can also find the full list of Dr Evil Classic winners across all categories here.
– Supplied, Dr Evil Classic
The Scott Sports Africa prizewinners, including Marnus Steyn (centre front) celebrate winning hampers while Steyn rode away on a new Scott Strike eRide. Photos: Oakpics.com.
Robyn de Groot took part in her first mountain bike race for nearly 18 months but still won the women's section.
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