No holding back at 14th PPS Panorama Tour
South Africa’s “toughest race on tar”, the PPS Panorama Tour returned to the Lowveld this week. This four-day favourite cycle race covers a total of 320km of tough terrain which includes 6 400m of ascent via the legendary mountains of Mpumalanga.
This year, race organisers introduced the elite/professional category, which was a “race within a race” - the same route and PPS Panorama rules apply with a separate start time.
Day one saw elite/pro riders Callum Ormiston and Asher Biggs (ProTouch) cross the finish line to the 111,5km in 03:10:58.
In the traditional PPS Panorama Tour event, Hartlief Deli P/B Powerbar’s Christiaan Janse van Rensburg and Theuns van der Bank broke away right as the neutral zone ended at five kilometres. They maintained their breakaway to the finish, ending off with an eight-minute gap and a final time of 03:09:13.
Demacon’s Kim le Court and Carla Oberholzer claimed the victory in the women’s category finishing in a time of 03:09:13.
In the mixed event, BSC-DDMedia’s Grant Edmiston and Parys Edwards rolled in first with a time of 03:19:48.
Janse van Rensburg and Van der Bank, and Ormiston and former Curro Nelspruit pupil, Biggs, made short work of stage two.
At 72km, stage two was shorter than the first, but the numerous sharp climbs and 1 546m ascent meant pacing and strategy played a big part in who would claim the win. The hills kept coming, beating back the attack and widening the gap to 03:38. Janse van Rensburg and Van der Bank crossed the line comfortably and with a final time of 01:59:15.
Similar strategies were at play in the elite category. Out of the attack ProTouch pair, Ormiston and Biggs took the win in a time of 01:59:37.
Demacon’s Le Court and Oberholzer won the top spot for stage two in the women’s category with a time of 02:13:38.
Edmiston and Edwards took their second win in the mixed with a time of 02:03:51. Teams kept things interesting with a change-up on stage three. Egon Campbell and Marnus Potgieter (Cycle Nation/Bekker Steel) for the traditional tour and Calvin Beneke and Andrew Edwards (ProTouch Guru PPS) for the elite event, emerged as the kings of the queen stage with a time of 02:52:22.
It was this momentum and quick thinking that saw Campbell and Potgieter take the win for the traditional tour, crossing the finish line in 03:00:30.
Demacon’s Le Court and Oberholzer took the queen stage crown in the women’s category with a time of 03:16:33
In the mixed, Dormakaba’s Matthew Stamatis and Samantha Sanders took the win in 03:09:24.
The time trial, the race of truth, settled the score. Some 400 riders headed out on Tuesday morning in descending order slowest to fastest. This out and back route was only 32km, but if riders wanted to take home the win, they needed 100 per cent effort from start to finish.
Campbell and Potgieter, motivated by their stage three win, came blazing over the line in a time of 00:50:13.
In the open women, Le Court and Oberholzer rounded off their tour with a clean run and a time of 01:04:18. Edmiston and Edwards came in on top with their time of 00:54:11.
Team NAD/Demacon’s Barend Burger and Nico Bell came in at 00:47:50, successfully stepping onto the podium for the time trial.
After four all-out stages, the overall men’s winners were Van der Bank and Janse van Rensburg.
Overall, Demacon’s Oberholzer and Le Court had a clean sweep throughout the PPS Panorama Tour, taking all four stage wins and the open women’s first prize (10:09:47).
Edmiston and Edwards, after a back-andforth battle, rode away with an overall win in the mixed category (09:27:49).
Beneke and Edwards took the top elite/ pro top spot (08:53:17), with Casper Kruger and Andries Nigrini second (08:53:23) and Ormiston and Biggs third (08:54:30).
This four-day cycle race covers 320km of tough terrain which includes 6 400m of ascents over mountains