{"id":27157,"date":"2019-03-14T18:36:46","date_gmt":"2019-03-14T16:36:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/?p=27157"},"modified":"2019-03-14T18:36:46","modified_gmt":"2019-03-14T16:36:46","slug":"perfect-mix-for-winelands-encounter-route","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/cycling\/perfect-mix-for-winelands-encounter-route\/","title":{"rendered":"Perfect mix for Winelands Encounter route"},"content":{"rendered":"

Riders in the Liberty Winelands Encounter can expect a perfect mix of mountain-biking ingredients, with a few challenges thrown in, when it takes place next month.<\/p>\n

Billed as the country’s most beautiful race, the fifth edition of the three-stage event will see cyclists tackle a 147km journey between the Western Cape towns of Franschhoek and Paarl from April 12 to 14.<\/p>\n

Route director Johan Kriegler said they had created a combination of single-track, gravel roads, jeep tracks and climbs which would be “doable for most riders”.<\/p>\n

“There are, however, a few technical sections and a degree of ascent which will provide a test for some,” he added.<\/p>\n

“Much of the route is similar to last year, but there has been a change to the starting venue, which will now be at the Boschendal Wine Estate (in the Franschhoek Valley).<\/p>\n

“This means the first eight kilometres will cover new territory, but then it will be back to the Boschendal tracks, climbing to the highest point and going down the single-track on the other side.”<\/p>\n

He added that the second and third stages of the Winelands Encounter<\/a> would remain largely unchanged.<\/p>\n

The second stage will take riders on a circular route, which starts and finishes at the Le Franschhoek Hotel, while the third day will see the race draw to a conclusion at the Nederburg Wine Estate in Paarl.<\/p>\n

Kriegler said their route objectives were to make sure it was manageable and that the riders were able to enjoy the scenic journey.<\/p>\n

“But there are a few challenging sections, such as the climb to Matoppies before waterpoint one on the second day, which is quite hectic,” he added.<\/p>\n

“And then there is a technical stretch around the Berg River dam which will test them and could be influential in the final positions.”<\/p>\n

He said stage three followed a fairly straightforward route of single-track and open road, leading to the finish at the Nederburg Wine Estate.<\/p>\n

The luxury aspect, he added, formed a key element of the three-day offering, with accommodation available at the Le Franschhoek Hotel on the Friday and Saturday nights.<\/p>\n

He suggested that those interested wasted no time in booking their spot in the race as the hotel accommodation was limited to 80 two-man teams.<\/p>\n

“The main elements of this event are that it incorporates some of the most beautiful mountain-bike trails in the country with top-quality accommodation to make it a weekend to remember.<\/p>\n

“We have kept that in mind while setting up the route and we believe that what we have complements the ethos of the race.”<\/p>\n

The Liberty Winelands Encounter<\/a> is the second race in the Encounter Series, following the TransCape MTB at the beginning of February.<\/p>\n

The final event, the Waterberg Encounter, takes place near Bela-Bela in Limpopo from June 7 to 9.<\/p>\n

For more information, go to Liberty Winelands Encounter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Riders in the Liberty Winelands Encounter can expect a perfect mix of mountain-biking ingredients, with a few challenges thrown in, when it takes place next month. Billed as the country’s most beautiful race, the fifth edition of the three-stage event will see cyclists tackle a 147km journey between the Western Cape towns of Franschhoek and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":58746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3260],"tags":[1743,2632,1947,3131,2594,2377,3899,2417],"class_list":["post-27157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-asg-events","tag-liberty","tag-liberty-encounter-series","tag-liberty-transcape-mtb-encounter","tag-liberty-waterberg-encounter","tag-liberty-winelands-encounter","tag-rooute","tag-winelands-encounter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27157\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}