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SOUTHERN CAPE NEWS - On Saturday Matthys Beukes was crowned as the 2019 Momentum Health Attakwas Extreme champion for the second consecutive year. The starting point of this popular mountain bike race was at Chandelier farm in Oudtshoorn and ended after a gruelling 121km at Pine Creek Resort in Great Brak. In the elite women's category, Yolande de Villiers (46) stormed to become the oldest winner of the country's toughest one-day mountain bike race. The event doubles also attracted some of the world's top racing talent.
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Among the contenders to Beukes's crown, this year was ultra-endurance legend Karl Platt and Beukes's teammate Philip Buys.
In a tightly fought tactical race, Beukes put the highly competitive field to the test with multiple attacks along the unforgiving 121km route. Early mechanical issues took both Buys and Platt out of contention for the title, leaving Heyns, Carstens, and Arno du Toit pushing to keep up with Beukes blistering pace.
Many would presume that the toughest part of the race was over when riders reached the top of the infamous Attakwas King of the Mountain' climb. The true test of grit had however only just begun with the undulating terrain over the final 60km's to the finish line still lurking.
It was incredibly exciting to watch as Beukes broke away from the group at this point to establish and extend his overall lead to almost 5 minutes.
"According to an elated Beukes, it is one of the toughest races on the calendar and a great test of physical and mental fitness early in the season.
"One of my goals was to beat Urs Huber's record today, but going so hard from the start of the race meant that cramps set in later on. I'm happy to take the win though," he said.
Gert Heyns managed to snatch up second place with young Nicol Carstens who finished in the third position. It was a ground-breaking win in Carstens young career in which he also handed an unexpected thrashing to many experienced riders in the field.
The women's race proved to be a truly jaw-dropping spectacle to witness. As predicted, some of South Africa's brightest stars Candice Lill, Sam Sanders, Yolande de Villiers and Sweden's Jennie Stenerhag broke away early into the route.
It seemed that victory was out of reach for De Villiers as she dropped off the pace of the leading group by more than 40 seconds for a large portion of the race.
Her local knowledge however definitely contributed to her calculated effort to regain contact with the leaders at the last waterpoint.
The crowd watched in disbelief as the three women sprinted for the line with De Villiers snatching victory from the claws of defeat by a hair's breadth.
De Villiers said that it has been over ten years since she last tasted victory in this event.
"It took everything out of me as I had to pace myself and save my legs until the very end. It was indeed a proud moment for me especially with my whole family there to support me."
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