{"id":3604,"date":"2016-11-10T13:13:37","date_gmt":"2016-11-10T11:13:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/?p=3604"},"modified":"2016-11-10T13:13:37","modified_gmt":"2016-11-10T11:13:37","slug":"kachelhoffer-backs-two-day-stage-race-concept","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/more-sport\/kachelhoffer-backs-two-day-stage-race-concept\/","title":{"rendered":"Kachelhoffer backs two-day stage race concept"},"content":{"rendered":"

Top South African professional cyclist Hanco Kachelhoffer is looking forward to the concept of a two-day stage race when he competes in the Sanlam MTB Invitational at Rhebokskloof Wine Estate near Paarl on November 19 and 20.<\/p>\n

Previously a single-day event, race organisers ASG Events have extended it to two stages (60km and 40km), believing there is a gap in the market for a race of this nature.<\/p>\n

Kachelhoffer, who is an accomplished road cyclist but now focuses on mountain biking, said he was sure the concept would be a winner.<\/p>\n

“A lot of events are over a single day or three days or more, and I think the two-day idea makes sense, obviously tying in with a weekend,” said the 31-year-old Altech Autopage Pro Cycling rider.<\/p>\n

\"Altech<\/a>
Altech Autopage Pro Cycling rider Hanco Kachelhoffer (front) believes the two-day concept of next week’s Sanlam MTB Invitational could be a winner. Photo: Ewald Sadie<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“Normally, after a big build-up, there is so much excitement for a one-day event and then the next day there is nothing. Placing it over two days gives it that additional element.<\/p>\n

“Obviously, if you are riding with someone, it doesn’t help to break your partner on day one and there’s nothing left for day two.<\/p>\n

“I specialise in stage races, so I would always choose a multiday event over a one-day race,” said Kachelhoffer, who teamed up with Pieter Seyffert to finish fourth in this year’s nine-day joBerg2c.<\/p>\n

Kachelhoffer, who will again link up with Seyffert for the Sanlam MTB Invitational, said he felt some riders lost interest in the longer events after a few days and that two or three-day events were perfectly suited to cycling in South Africa.<\/p>\n

“I think everyone loves the shorter multiday events and the two-day concept should work.”<\/p>\n

He anticipated a good challenge from a route that circled Paarl Mountain on the opening day and involved some climbing on day two.<\/p>\n

“I have never done a race in the Paarl-area on a mountain bike so I don’t know it very well.<\/p>\n

“But having moved to Paarl in the last month, I have learnt a bit about some of the trails. There’s lots of climbing, but it should be a fun route.”<\/p>\n

In the sections he had encountered on his training rides, Kachelhoffer described the single-track as fast and flowing and believed the route would make for an exciting race.<\/p>\n

“It’s actually short enough for a few teams to stay together and then I think possibly whoever has the best climbing legs on the day could end up riding away.”<\/p>\n

Although he still competed in premier road events such as the Bestmed Tour of Good Hope and Jock Tour, the former SA time-trial champion said his focus had moved to multiday mountain bike events.<\/p>\n

“Cycling is massive globally but in South Africa mountain biking seems to be exploding, so I’m very much focused on that now.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Top South African professional cyclist Hanco Kachelhoffer is looking forward to the concept of a two-day stage race when he competes in the Sanlam MTB Invitational at Rhebokskloof Wine Estate near Paarl on November 19 and 20. Previously a single-day event, race organisers ASG Events have extended it to two stages (60km and 40km), believing […]<\/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":[3],"tags":[1788,2119,1944,2115,1747,1815,1741,2120,2121,1748,1742],"class_list":["post-3604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-more-sport","tag-cycling-news","tag-hanco-kachelhoffer","tag-mountain-bike","tag-mountain-bike-news","tag-mtb","tag-mtb-news","tag-paarl-news","tag-pieter-seyffert","tag-professional-cyclist","tag-rhebokskloof-wine-estate","tag-sanlam-mtb-invitational"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3604","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=3604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3604\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}