Luke Moir and Jolanda Neff were crowned the king and queen of the songo.info Champions Race on Wednesday, 11 March. The late afternoon action took place in scorching temperatures, and the racing matched the mercury with Cannondale Factory Racing taking the fight to the South Africans, Moir and Tyler Jacobs, in the men’s and women’s events.
The Mondraker Factory Racing XC man was able to use his songo.info Champions Race experience to outfox and outclimb Charlie Aldridge and Luca Martin to defend the title he won in 2025. While the 2020 Olympic Gold Medallist showed her class, and held off South Africa’s young XCC star, Jacobs, and Buff BH’s XCM specialist, Rosa van Doorn.
The 2026 songo.info Champions Race got underway with an all-comers Open Category event, which was won by under-17 rising star Remi Vermaak, and an electrifying E-Bike race, which saw Michard Meets take the men’s category win, while Jess Kroon and Ciska Turner crossed the finish line together to share the women’s category victory.
The songo.info Champions Race showcases both the charity and the spirit of the Kayamandi community. Supported by global asset manager Ninety One, songo.info delivers education, sport, and life-skills programmes to 150 children from the historically disadvantaged township outside Stellenbosch.
By bringing international and local mountain biking stars and passionate cycling fans into Kayamandi, the race shines a spotlight on the importance of the charity’s work. The energy around the event is infectious and marks the final build-up to the Absa Cape Epic. This year’s 12th edition also benefited from the Epic’s photography, video, and social media teams, helping share songo.info’s story with a global audience.
During the intermission between races, the IRONMAN Foundation presented songo.info with new mountain and balance bikes. Their donation of 30 bikes to songo.info and another 30 to the Anna Foundation sparked instant excitement among the children. Soon after, an impromptu ride around the Kayamandi Sports Fields, led by Christoph Sauser and programme manager Sipho Madolo, turned the moment into pure celebration, even on an afternoon already filled with smiles and laughter.
With the bikes handed over, it was time to resume the racing, with the Elite Women’s showdown. Neff, Jacobs, and Van Doorn were up against a stacked field, which also included Ana Santos, Margot Moschetti, Vera Looser, Andrea Schoffman, and Faranak Partoazar. A fast start by Neff, her Cannondale Factory Racing teammate, Santos, as well as Jacobs, Van Doorn, Looser, and Moschetti, quickly splintered the field. On each of the first 3 laps, another of these favourites slipped from contention until only the eventual podium finishers were left racing for victory. The former World and European cross-country champion simply had another gear for the final lap, however, and distanced Jacobs and Van Doorn to seize the title.
“I was absolutely loving it,” Neff smiled. “It’s such a special experience, there’s nothing like this anywhere else in the world. We were racing through the community, and all the people were so happy and excited. I’ve never done something like this before, and it was so much fun!”
Moir also thoroughly enjoyed his songo.info Champions Race experience. “Before the race, I said to Sam [Gaze] we need to make a plan because Cannondale [Factory Racing] had so much strength in depth,” the double champion noted. “It worked out well initially as Sam and I were able to get away with Charlie [Aldridge], Luca [Martin], Cole [Punchard], and Michael [Foster]. But then Sam had an issue on the penultimate lap. On the last lap, I went all in on the tar climb, sprinting as hard as I could, to get into the downhill through the houses first. Once I had that prime position on the trail, I knew it would be really hard for anyone to come around me.”
Moir crossed the line seconds ahead of Aldridge, Martin, and Foster, with Punchard finishing 20 seconds back in fifth. Sam Gaze endured a race-ending mechanical on the second-to-last lap, putting him out of the running for a podium finish.
songo.info and the mountain biking community in general’s attention now turns to the Absa Cape Epic. Starting on Sunday, 15 March, the 22nd edition of the world’s biggest mountain bike stage race features the longest route in years, with three stages over 100 kilometres, including a 140-kilometre transition stage from Montagu to Greyton.
The charity will be represented by four official teams. Sipho Madolo races alongside, songo.info’s primary sponsor, Thabo Khojane, the Managing Director of Ninety One South Africa. Lutho Barnes and Liyema Madolo, as well as Zizo Tshingana and Lakhanya Sikhobongwana, race in the Exxaro Jersey competition for young riders from historically disadvantaged communities. Christoph Sauser, meanwhile, teams up with Craig Uria for team SONGO-GIC-NINETY ONE. They will be targeting the NTT Masters’ title over the eight days of the race. Friends of songo.info, André Pinto and Marco Carvalho will also be representing the charity and helping with the fundraising initiative.
The focus of the 2026 Absa Cape Epic is to raise funds to build an additional classroom at the songo.info clubhouse. GIC has already graciously committed to a sizable donation, but the charity needs to raise more money to erect and equip the prefabricated classroom. This classroom, which will stand next to the one Ninety One sponsored in 2025, will enable songo.info to welcome 175 children through the charity’s doors every school day.
To find out more about the work the charity does, visit www.songo.info, or click here to donate to the classroom fundraising campaign on GivenGain. To stay updated on the fortunes of the songo.info teams at the 2026 Absa Cape Epic, follow @songoinfo on Instagram or like the songo.info Facebook page.
2026 songo.info Champions Race Results
Elite Women’s Results:
- Jolanda Neff: Cannondale Factory Racing
- Tyler Jacobs: Liv Factory Racing
- Rosa van Doorn: Buff BH
- Ana Santos: Cannondale Factory Racing
- Vera Looser: Efficient Infiniti Insure
Elite Men’s Results:
- Luke Moir: Mondraker Factory Racing XC
- Charlie Aldridge: Cannondale Factory Racing
- Luca Martin: Cannondale Factory Racing
- Michael Foster: Ford Prime Bunch
- Cole Punchard: Cannondale Factory Racing
