The Saffers are back, and this time it's in the lowveld region with a five stage four day race in and around Graskop, Mpumalanga. Long time to go, but flip it, I'm online now and may not be then.

Last year was a battle between the seasoned class of Darren Lill, Qhubeka stage racer Dennis van Niekerk and an upstart in his first year in the senior ranks, Louis Meintjes. The outcome though was far less obvious at the start of last year's race with van Nieker, Lill and Meintjes conceding six minutes to the winner of the first stage, and Darren's teammate, Gawie Combrink. A recovery ensued in the following 156km stage and then the Time trial was the decisive factor as Louis Meintjes finished 40 seconds ahead of Lill to take the lead and hold on to victory on the final day. Will 2012 see as bright a potential star be born again?

The stages are long, some above 150km and shall sort out any sprinters who don't have the length.

GC last year

Position	Race Number	Name	Time
1	21	Louis Meintjies	17:59:37.3
2	2	Darren Lill	00:05.8
3	11	Dennis van Niekerk	00:26.0
4	1	Jason Bakke	05:05.4
5	17	Jacques Janse van Rensburg	14:35.6
6	9	Waylon Woolcock	16:03.7
7	16	James Tennent	21:36.4
8	3	Gawie Combrinck	23:39.5
9	18	Reinhardt Janse van Rensburg	31:20.2
10	12	Dylan Girdlestone	35:24.9

Tennent... sigh

Some spanking talent in that top 10.


Where's the travel you ask?

Why of course, it's around Graskop itself.

The Graskop Gorge

Yes, those are building, and no, I've got no clue as to what they're doing there.

The horseshoe falls


The Mac Mac Falls not 20km from Graskop



The Pilgrim's rest (with a bit of a background story as it merits one)
The history of this small delightful village dates back to 1873 when a miner, Alex Patterson, discovered alluvial gold on the farm named Ponieskrantz.
 
He had left the Mac-Mac area to search for a place that was less congested.
 
Though the discovery was kept as a secret, the inevitable happened when a second prospector William Trafford also discovered gold close by.
 
What they had found in this beautiful valley drew optimistic gold panners and prospectors from all over the country and the World (news of gold strikes of this magnitude travel fast !).
 
On 22nd September 1873 Pilgrim's Rest was officially proclaimed a gold field and the scatter of tents and rudimentary shacks soon grew into a flourishing little village complete with sturdy brick houses, church, shops, canteens, a newspaper and the well-known Royal Hotel.
 
The diggers called it Pilgrim's Rest because here, at last, after so many false trails and faded dreams they had truly found their home.
 
In due course the alluvial deposits were depleted and the locals turned to forestry, but their village, whose residents still number in the hundreds, has been painstakingly preserved as a "living museum" and major South African tourist venue.



http://www.pilgrimsrest.org.za/

I gain even more respect for the South Africans, bars and pubs be listed ahead of arts and crafts. Good folk, but to temper it a bit, it's below restaurants. It's them boerewors sausage, it's them that corrupted the minds.

A litany of images can be found elsewhere.

And there's the defending champion


Toyota lotto and CSA have something going on, Moolman and now Meintjes? Not the worst signings by any stretch. (not the same Toyota team)

Why the stages. I forgot about them-

No TT profile as yet, but it should be a bit hilly

Elite Men's and U23 profiles
Stage 1-155.2km


Stage 2-125km


Stage 3-156km


Stage 4a-106.5km


Stage 5-96km


So then, now to wait for the teams and lists.

Could well see Tasol doing a good job here considering Bonitas are now in Europe and Qhubeka will be heading off there too.

Went to Pilgrims rest a couple of years ago on holiday for a couple of days when I was touring around the Lowveld and it is a pretty nice place, thing it features in Jock of the Bushveld if I can recall correctly.

New race in the Lowveld next year.
http://www.sa-venues.com/events/mpumalanga/panorama-cycle-tour/

Nice, Kevin Evans racing here. Him Maree, Smit and Gladstone are in the break. Europcar leading the chase.

Can't have been a good day. Windy, very windy, and the MTBers did dominated it. Main bunch could not close into them.

Love how the profile shows a flat region, but the graph's actually between 1000 to 2000 metres, so a sh*t tough day today.

Time Trial yesterday and the sexologist, Willie Smit, won and took the lead in the overall classification. Baxter's second in the overall.



Lynette Burger won the TT stage for the ladies. It was the first stage for them. She's coming on the back of some top form and also took home the Jock cycle classic. Should be the comfortable favourite from that 8 lady field. And she's a motorbike lass, can't get better.

Jono's favourite double stage day today. Stage 4A is a 6 lap race around the God's Window circuit.

Here's Reinardt's account on last year's stage 4A, along the same route


Stage 4A (125km 6 laps of God’s window): Tactically this was probably were we rode the smartest off all days. We sent Petrus Loto in the break on the first lap to gain King of the Mountain points, as he was lying 2nd in the competition. However this was only a distraction, as we had bigger plans for him later on. On the 2nd lap we also sent JC Nel across. Bonitas kept the break under control, which suited us perfectly, because on the 3 lap we lifted the pace once more. In the process dropping both Neil and Gawie. We quickly caught up to our 2 teammates in front and suddenly it was 5 MTN in front along with 3 Bonitas, Louis Meintjies and 1 more ASG rider. We saved Jacques and Dennis, while JC, Loto and I set the pace. The gap quickly reached the 6min mark, however we lost Loto and JC on the 4th and 5th lap respectively. Leaving me to pace the a whole lap. With the gap was over 10min I could afford to save a little legs to see if I can get over the climb. I was under pressure to show to the national selectors that I have what it takes to be selected for u23 World Championship. And that was my motivation, which allowed me to hold on for dear life during the 6th lap. Halfway up I knew I wasn’t going to be dropped and Jacques took over the pace-making duties from me, giving me time to recover before the sprint. I managed to get my 2nd stage ahead of teammate Dennis van Niekerk and Louis Meintjies. I also moved into the lead of the Green points Jersey competition.

Up to this Louis Meintjies has been hiding somewhat in shadows, watching the older men fight it out and just staying in the wheels, not attacking even once. Everybody seemed convinced that his focus was only best young rider’s jersey, as he chased down Jason Bakke each time he attacked. It seemed a little unneccessary to chase Jason who was 4min behind Louis, but this provided him with an ideal cover. It was only when we reached Stage 4B, a 7.3km the Hill climb time trial up Kowyn’s pass, with Louis only a few seconds behind Darren, the new GC leader, that everybody realised that the sneaky youngster could deliver a massive upset if he was able to out-timetrial Darren Lill. He did it!! Riding a good 40s faster than his more experienced rival. Our man Dennis van Niekerk made it a hatrick for Team MTN Qhubeka as he won the Hill climb, with a time of 20:03, 20s faster than Jason Bakke

http://reinardtvanrensburg.wordpress.com/page/4/

All I know is that the sexologist isn't in the lead atm. Knox has gained the GC lead and Girdlestone is third. So the sexologist must be second. They've cocked up the results section, unless of course elite men are 40-49 year old women.

Anriette Schoeman won the hill climb in the ladies, and is second overall.

right stage 5

Kevin Evans took the stage win 42 seconds ahead of someone with a long name

Gawie Combrink took 3rd, David Maree got 5th at 2 minutes but only took 18 seconds out of knox who held on to the overall lead. Smit and GirdleStone (i hate to think what you did as a job to earn that name) both lost 1.20 to Knox but held their overall places.

Schoeman took the final stage by 3 seconds from Lynette's Burger but the burger held on to overall

apparently the main kent (got to be careful with a name like that) won the junior stag comp