Kleinhans Wins Third Attakwas Title

Swiss rider Ariane Kleinhans won the Attakwas Extreme Challenge in Oudtshoorn, in South Africa’s Western Cape Province on Saturday.

Kleinhans of Team RE:CM became the first foreign woman to win the race three times after claiming the coveted title in 2011 and 2012.

Kleinhans, who is married to men’s race third-place finisher, Erik, and lives in South Africa, clocked a winning time of 05:42:29, which is also a new record.

Finishing second was current British road race champion and former Cape Epic winner, Sharon Laws (Momentum Toyota) with former two-time Attakwas winner, Yolande de Villiers (Toyota Supercycling), rounding out the top three.

Laws set a fast pace from the start and rode with some of the leading men. But she later dropped back and was joined by Kleinhans, who then rode clear of her at the 50km mark just before the King of the Mountain ascent.

“I must have been quite a bit quicker than Sharon on the long, quite technical descent, because I had quite a good gap on her by halfway. Every so often I would catch some men, but I spent most of the last 20km on my own riding into that headwind. It was one of those races you just could not wait for the finish to come,” said Kleinhans.

The top 10 women each received gold medals. Riders that completed the race in under six hours were awarded silver medals.

A total of 46 women completed the event within the 11-hour cut-off. Among those were members of the ABSA Cape Epic Celebrity Team, including actress and model, Vanessa Haywood (08:53:34)