Stage 3 of the 2026 KAP sani2c ‘OG’ UCI racing delivered exactly what the route profile promised – a brutally fast final day from Jolivet Farm to Scottburgh Golf Club. At 86km with 1042m of climbing and 1703m of descending, the stage encouraged aggressive racing from the start. Toyota Specialized Imbuko 2’s Travis Stedman and Jaedon Terlouw sealed overall victory, while two teams fought intensely for the remaining GC podium positions. Efficient Infiniti Insure’s Samantha Sanders and Vera Looser completed a dominant week with another stage victory to become the KAP sani2c UCI Women’s champions.
MEN’S RACE
Toyota Specialized Imbuko’s first team, Tristan Nortje and Marco Joubert, launched an all-in assault from the start to claw their way back onto the final podium after Day 3’s mechanical setbacks, while Insect Science Safari Essence’s Arno du Toit and Wessel Botha were also ready for the vital first breakaway that secured them second overall on GC.
The decisive moves came early, and on Clint’s Climb the elite men’s front teams split, with the three teams of Toyota Specialized Imbuko 1 and 2 and Insect Science Safari Essence getting away. They then worked well together over the next 70kms and no one was able to break away from the fast-moving group of six riders.
Tristan Nortje: “We basically went full gas from the start because we had nothing to lose, we were fifth on GC. We wanted to put the other teams under pressure immediately and fortunately it worked. Once the front group formed, everyone committed fully.
Jaedon Terlouw: “It was really, really hard for the guys behind to come back once the split happened. A couple of times I was almost dropped on the flats, the pace was incredibly high. Every time we looked back and saw no one there, it gave us extra motivation to keep pushing even harder. Just before water point two (58km), Tristan had a crash on a slippery district road corner. Fortunately the whole group had been working really well together, so everyone sat up and waited for him to get back. Once he rejoined, the adrenaline clearly kicked in because he was absolutely flying afterwards.”
Marco Joubert: “Once four of the six riders in the front group were teammates, we knew we had a strong advantage if everybody committed. It was so fast, we averaged nearly 34km/h for the stage, which is crazy on mountain bikes.”
Tristan Nortje:”That’s why you never give up in mountain biking. After the chain break yesterday it would have been easy to think the race was over, but if we had given up then, there would have been no chance of fighting back today. Our philosophy as a team has always been to race all-out no matter what happens.”
Arno Du Toit: “The racing was really close on GC, and Marco and Tristan, one of the strongest teams here, were right behind us on GC. it’s such fast, really high speed racing on the last day, so it’s hard to open up big enough gaps, and you have to go early to make it happen. We were ready from the gun and made that first split with the Imbuko teams. Once we saw our other team was not coming back, the focus became securing second overall on GC.”
Wessel Botha: “Today was about having a clean run after the chain issues we had yesterday. To move from fourth to second overall after the problems we had, is something we’re really happy with.”
Travis Stedman: “It feels really good to pull this race off. Last year we had a lot of bad luck here, so to come back this year with a partner like Jaedon and support from the team made it a really special week.”
WOMEN’S RACE
While Efficient Infiniti Insure’s win was decisive, Saturday’s final stage saw the three top teams together for most of the day, but Sanders and Looser did not want a sprint finish and chose to get away about 15kms from the finish.
The exciting racing between the second and third placed teams continued, and it was Frances Swanepoel and Rachel Seaman of Cycle Nation Enza Construction who produced a surge up the fairway of Scottburgh golf course to seal second for the stage. Cherise Willeit and Ila Stow of Fortress Toyota, who came third on the stage, retained their second place on the General Classification due to the time banked by their other strong stage performances.
Cherise Willeit: “The first 20 kilometres were raced incredibly hard by such classy riders. At one stage we thought we had dropped Frances and Rachel, but they just kept fighting back and absolutely deserved second place on the stage. Sam and Vera were unbelievably strong all week – whenever they decided to raise the pace they simply rode away.”
Sam Sanders: “We set the pace early and managed to get away with Cherise and Ila on Clint’s Climb. Frances and Rachel fought really hard to come back, and after that it became obvious the race might come down to a sprint.”
Looser says: “We went really hard early on Clint’s Climb and only Cherise and Ila could stay with us. At one point we actually backed off slightly because it didn’t make sense for us to tow everyone all the way to the finish. Then, with around 15 kilometres to go, Sam put the hammer down and we committed fully because none of us wanted the race to come down to a sprint on that final grassy climb.”
“The final half hour back towards the ocean was absolutely brutal.”
Ila Stow: “Cherise made things really hard in the final kilometre, but luckily I still had a bit left in the legs. She positioned us perfectly going into the singletrack and over the bridge. I honestly didn’t realise how long that final open road to the finish would feel after four days of racing. I definitely felt like the weakest rider in that front group, especially with so many strong road riders there, but it was such a beautiful day and an amazing race.”
Frances Swanepoel, who took time off from racing to have a baby in 2025, says: “Coming back to sani2c after becoming a mother makes this result incredibly special. Yesterday we told ourselves we had to fully commit if we wanted a podium result. Every single day we got stronger and stronger.”
Rachel: “These trails have been amazing. The route was beautiful and racing against riders like Cherise and Ila was really special because they’re athletes I’ve looked up to for years.”
Sanders says: “sani2c is one of the most prestigious stage races around, so winning it means a huge amount both personally and for our sponsors. It’s also really exciting to see how much the level of women’s racing has grown. The competition this week was seriously strong.”
The 22nd edition of the KAP sani2c not only provided exciting racing in the UCI races, but riders in both the ‘OG’ and Adventure versions of the sani2c enjoyed three days of incredible trails, spectacular scenery and race village hospitality provided by the local communities.
Stage 3 Results
Men
- Travis Stedman, Jaedon Terlouw (Toyota Specialized Imbuko 2) – 02:32:23
- Wessel Botha, Arno du Toit (Insect Science Safari Essence) – 02:32:25
- Tristan Nortje, Marco Joubert (Toyota Specialized Imbuko 1) – 02:32:41
- Keegan Tullis, Herman Fourie (CVNR Sports) – 02:39:25
- Johan van Zyl, Keagan Bontekoning (Insect Science) – 02:39:55
Women
- Samantha Sanders, Vera Looser (Efficient Infiniti Insure) – 03:06:41
- Frances Swanepoel, Rachel Seaman (Cycle Nation Enza Construction) – 03:10:21
- Cherise Willeit, Ila Stow (Fortress Toyota) – 03:10:34
- Roxanne Kemp, Danielle du Toit (Safari Essence Titan Racing) – 03:22:36
- Erin Shillaw, Lianke Fourie (Old Mutual Women’s Team) – 03:32:47
General Classification
Men
- Jaedon Terlouw, Travis Stedman (Toyota Specialized Imbuko 2) – 09:11:30
- Wessel Botha, Arno du Toit (Insect Science Safari Essence) – 09:14:58
- Tristan Nortje, Marco Joubert (Toyota Specialized Imbuko 1) – 09:15:19
- Keagan Bontekoning, Johan van Zyl (Insect Science) – 09:20:56
- Marc Pritzen, Felix Stehli (Team Honeycomb 226ers) – 09:33:01
Women
- Vera Looser, Samantha Sanders (Efficient Infiniti Insure) – 11:19:07
- Cherise Willeit, Ila Stow (Fortress Toyota) – 11:40:09
- Frances Swanepoel, Rachel Seaman (Cycle Nation Enza Construction) – 11:43:00
- Danielle du Toit, Roxanne Kemp (Safari Essence Titan Racing) – 12:00:51
- Kylie Hanekom, Hayley Smith (Bike Hub) – 13:14:54
For full results, visit www.sani2c.co.za
