Michael Foster (leading) with Marco Joubert on his wheel racing into the decisive final metres of Stage 1. Photo by Oakpics.com.
The opening stage of the 2025 Momentum Medical Scheme Tankwa Trek, presented by Biogen – on Thursday, 6 February – saw the PYGA Euro Steel 2 and She Sends teams seize the first leaders’ jerseys.
Michael Foster and Jaedon Terlouw overcame misfortune and capitalised on Imbuko ChemChamp’s error in the closing metres to earn the first yellow jerseys. Candice Lill and Kate Courtney rode to a more commanding victory, establishing a 1 minute and 53 second buffer on their closest rivals for the pink First Ascent magenta jerseys.
Candice Lill (leading) and Kate Courtney, of She Sends, won the opening stage of the Momentum Medical Scheme Tankwa Trek, presented by Biogen, to seize the First Ascent magenta jerseys. Photo by Oakpics.com.
Courtney and Lill started like women on a mission and put the rest of the women’s field on the back foot. Spaghetti M&G’s Greta Seiwald and Martina Berta were best able to follow, holding the She Sends team to 30 seconds through the first half of the course. In the second half of the short and sharp 30 kilometre route the leaders extended their advantage to the Kaleo finish line.
“Because I won’t be stage racing much this year, I decided to go all in here at the Momentum Medical Scheme Tankwa Trek, presented by Biogen,” Lill smiled. “Kate and I started hard and went all-out throughout this short first stage, to really see how well we can compliment each other as a team. I’m happy to take the win today, but there are three big days ahead, which is a good thing because this really is my favourite stage race. Riding here in the Koue Bokkeveld reminds me of the rough and rocky riding I did, with my dad, growing up.”
Kate Courtney (leading) put the rest of the UCI Women’s field under pressure from the gun alongside her teammate Candice Lill. Photo by Max Sullivan.
Lill and Courtney’s stage winning margin of nearly 2 minutes sets the South African up for a tilt at her fifth title here in the Bokveld. The She Sends rider has victories in 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2024 on her palmarès already. Seiwald and Berta will almost certainly grow into the race and Stage 2, in the Witzenberg Valley should suit the Italian pair. Tyler Jacobs and Sara Cortinovis finished the first stage in third place, 3:44 behind the victors, and should also grow increasingly comfortable as the event progresses, as it is 21-year-old Italian’s first multi-day race. Behind the podium places, Efficient Infiniti and Safari Essence Titan Racing are separated by just over 90 seconds in a battle of the all-African teams. Sarah Hill and Vera Looser drew first blood and take an advantage over Bianca Haw and Danielle Strydom into Stage 2.
In the UCI men’s race a fast start by Imbuko ChemChamp very nearly paid off. “We controlled the tempo from early and were looking good right into the finale,” Marco Joubert retold. “But even though we came up short today, this was the day we had identified as the one which suits us the least – so I’m not unhappy.”
After the searing heat of Stage 1, which started at 15:00 the teams will welcome the crisp 06:30 start of Stage 2. Photo by Oakpics.com.
Foster and Terlouw are the happiest men after the opening stage. “I thought our chances of victory were over when I crashed about 3 kilometres from the finish,” Terlouw confessed. “Michael [Foster] was up front with Maco [Joubert] and Tristan [Nortje] but they all took a wrong turn just before the finish straight. They had to get off their bikes and I rode back to the group.”
The effort of backtracking a few metres allowed the PYGA Euro Steel 2 team to squeeze between the two Imbuko ChemChamp riders. Though Joubert crossed the line first Foster and Terlouw were the next two across the line securing the stage victory by 4 seconds. Singer KTM Racing’s Martin Frey and Simon Stiebjahn were next across the line, 5 seconds later. Daniel van der Walt and Ursin Spescha, of Cannondale Pro Team, were fourth with Toyota Specialized’s Matt Beers and Johan van Zyl, in fifth, heading up a group which finished just over a minute down.
Despite Marco Joubert crossing the line first Michael Foster (left) and Jaedon Terlouw (centre) won Stage 1 for PYGA Euro Steel. Photo by Oakpics.com.
This sets the race up for a captivating day in the Witzenberg Valley on Friday, 7 February. The 88 kilometre stage features 1 850 metres of climbing and is packed with hand-built singletrack. The racing action gets underway at 06:30 and mountain biking fans can follow it live on the @tankwatrek Instagram and Tankwa Trek Facebook stories. Longer-form highlights and photos from the race can also be found on Instagram and Facebook. For more information on the 2025 Momentum Medical Scheme Tankwa Trek, presented by Biogen, visit www.tankwatrek.co.za.
Momentum Medical Scheme Tankwa Trek, presented by Biogen, Results
Stage 1| UCI Men:
- Pyga Euro Steel 2: Michael Foster & Jaedon Terlouw (1:04:31)
- Imbuko ChemChamp: Marco Joubert & Tristan Nortje (1:04:35 | +4)
- Singer KTM Racing: Martin Frey & Simon Stiebjahn (1:04:40 | +9)
- Cannondale Pro Team: Daniel van der Walt & Ursin Spescha (1:04:50 | +19)
- Toyota Specialized: Matt Beers & Johan van Zyl (1:05:37 | +1:06)
Momentum Medical Scheme Tankwa Trek, presented by Biogen, Stage 1 UCI Men’s Podium (from left to right): Marco Joubert, Tristan Nortje, Michael Foster, Jaedon Terlouw, Simon Stiebjahn and Martin Frey. Photo by Oakpics.com.
Stage 1 | UCI Women:
- She Sends: Candice Lill & Kate Courtney (1:12:55)
- Spaghetti M&G: Greta Seiwald & Martina Berta (1:14:48 | +1:53)
- Ghost-LIV Racing: Tyler Jacobs & Sara Cortinovis (1:16:39 | +3:44)
- Efficient Infiniti: Sarah Hill & Vera Looser (1:20:07 | +7:12)
- Safari Essence Titan Racing: Bianca Haw & Danielle Strydom (1:21:52 | +8:57)
Momentum Medical Scheme Tankwa Trek, presented by Biogen, Stage 1 UCI Women’s Podium (from left to right): Greta Seiwald, Martina Berta, Candice Lill, Kate Courtney, Sara Cortinovis and Tyler Jacobs. Photo by Oakpics.com.
For the full results from the 2025 Momentum Medical Scheme Tankwa Trek, presented by Biogen, click here.
