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Lill and Jacobs come from behind to win Stage 1 of the FNB W2W Chardonnay

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The double defending champions, Candice Lill and Tyler Jacobs, made their lives difficult by missing a marker and riding kilometres down the wrong track while leading Stage 1 of the Chardonnay Race at FNB Wines2Whales. Margot Moschetti and Claudia Peretti were unable to capitalise on the error, however, as Liv-Sabi Sabi Seattle Coffee e-Fort raced back to the e-Fort MB-Race combination, then launched a stage-winning attack in the final 7 kilometres.

The opening stage of the 2025 FNB Wines2Whales series, on Friday 31 October, saw exciting racing, with the drama increased by the pre-race favourites missing a route marker and having to chase for 25 kilometres to regain their advantage. From the start at Benguela Cove, the Switchback route takes teams through the Overberg and up into the Elgin plateau, where the Oak Valley race village beckoned. Candice Lill and Tyler Jacobs got their directions wrong and ended up racing towards Villiersdorp instead, only realising their mistake once they had spent nearly 5 minutes riding off course. Upon turning around, the Liv-Sabi Sabi Seattle Coffee e-Fort combination had their work cut out to regain the lead from Margot Moschetti and Claudia Peretti, yet they managed to do so, and as a result, take a 53-second lead into Stage 2.

Candice Lill and Tyler Jacobs recovered from missing a route marker, which cost them nearly 5 minutes, to win Stage 1 of the FNB Wines2Whales Chardonnay. Photo by Dom Barnardt.

Stage 1 featured a much-changed Switchback route, from Benguela Cove to Oak Valley. The 61-kilometre-long course included 1 150 metres of climbing, starting with an ascent to the highest point of the Karwyderskraal Road, through Escape Wines and a new singletrack climb, before dropping through Gaf se Bos, to Genevieve MCC, Wildekrans Wines, and Beaumont Wine Estate. It was after Beaumont, leaving Botrivier town, that Lill and Jacobs went wrong, nearly 40 kilometres into the day’s racing. The longest ascent of the day, up Kat Pas, provided them with the terrain to claw back time, as did the Toyota Cruise segment up Moose se Pad and into Lebanon’s trails. The punchy climbs of the run-in through Paul Cluver Wine Estate to Oak Valley suited e-Fort MB Race, yet the day’s winners were still able to eke out a small advantage in the final 7 kilometres.

The way the stage began did not suggest that Lill and Jacobs would spend the finale chasing, but that is the beauty and unpredictability of mountain biking. In the opening kilometres, the double defending champions put their rivals under pressure. By the time they had crossed out of Benguela Cove, only Moschetti and Peretti, as well as Sarah Hill and Robyn de Groot, were able to follow the Liv-Sabi Sabi Seattle Coffee e-Fort team. Safari Essence Titan Racing’s Bianca Haw and Danielle du Toit were fourth on the trails, followed by a group with Fortress Real Estate Investments Efficient Infiniti, MTB Ladies by R-SUSPENSION, and Drivetrain.

Claudia Peretti (leading) and Margot Moschetti enjoyed a good start to their stage race partnership for e-Fort MB Race. Photo by Dom Barnardt.

On the climb up the Karwyderskraal Road, Lill and Jacobs snapped the metaphorical elastic connecting them with the Efficient Infiniti Insure and e-Fort teams. Moschetti and Peretti fought to keep the gap as small as possible, but the leaders managed to slip out of sight. This proved key when Liv-Sabi Sabi Seattle Coffee e-Fort went wrong.

“Before Kat Pas, leaving Botrivier, we missed a marker,” Lill explained. “This made life unnecessarily hard for ourselves.” “As we turned into the singletrack at the bottom of the pass, we saw Candice [Lill and Tyler [Jacobs] coming towards us,” Hill added. “They went past so quickly, there was no way to hold their wheels!”

When they rejoined the course, Lill and Jacob’s 90-second lead had turned into a 3-and-a-half-minute deficit. By the summit of Kat Pas, at the Houw Hoek Hotel, the gap to e-Fort MB Race was 61 seconds. There was no time for the chasers to stop and enjoy a glass of Blaauwklippen wine at the sponsor’s pop-up tasting stand, though Vera Looser and Sabine Spitz, who are riding rather than racing the Chardonnay event, did just that an hour later.

FNB Wines2Whales founder Johan Kriegler dishing out steaks and gees. Photo by Sam Clark.

In the next 10 kilometres, Liv-Sabi Sabi Seattle Coffee e-Fort reeled in and then dropped Moschetti and Peretti. “I’m really happy with how we rode today,” Peretti smiled. “We didn’t see the leaders go wrong, so we didn’t know we were in front. But it wouldn’t have changed how we raced. Our focus was on working well together and building as a team, as this is my first race with Margot [Moschetti]. I enjoyed the stage, the singletracks, and the beautiful views too.”

“With no big climbs after Water Point 2, it was tough to catch and then make any difference to Margot [Moschetti] and Claudia [Peretti],” Lill noted. “When we caught them, we sat on for a bit, then went all in on the only real climb.” Looking ahead to Stage 2, she continued: “53 seconds is a lead, but it’s not a comfortable lead! Tomorrow is packed with singletracks, and it will suit Tyler [Jacobs] and me, so we’ll try to play the racing to our strengths; but most of all, have fun out there.”

As Lill had noted, their margin of victory over e-Fort MB Race was 53 seconds. Efficient Infiniti Insure’s Hill and De Groot were third, at 6 minutes and 14 seconds behind the stage winners. Safari Essence Titan Racing were fourth, a further 5 minutes back. Claudia Krenn and Malena Seer completed the top five places on the day.

Blaauwklippen Wine Estate’s pop-up tasting room, at water point 2, proved a popular stop with less competitive riders (and the Open Category stage winners, Vera Looser and Sabine Spitz). Photo by Sam Clark.

Stage 2, which is dubbed “Play Day,” features a singletrack-packed route on the Oak Valley, Paul Cluver, and surrounding Wine Estates. At 67 kilometres long, it is the longest of the race, and its 1 350 metres of climbing is not to be underestimated. “The climbs are punchy, power climbs,” multiple-time FNB Wines2Whales finisher and Grand Masters’ Women runner-up on Stage 1, Michelle Lombardi, warned. “The singletracks are fun, but it's not a day to be underestimated.”

The trails begin with Rhys’s Rollercoaster, the Stage 2 Toyota Cruise segment, 14 kilometres into the stage, before iconic singletracks like Sound of Silence, Rietvlei Magic, Pofadder, Tierkop, Cherry Bypass, and Harrier Hawk lead back to Oak Valley, where the Wave Runner awaits as a thrilling new feature. To share in the action, as it unfolds, follow @wines_2_whales on Instagram or like the Wines2Whales Facebook page. Professional mountain biker and social media star, Pieter du Toit, is providing updates from the course on the Instagram and Facebook stories. Later mountain biking fans can tune in to the Epic Series YouTube channel for daily highlights. For more information, please visit www.epic-series.com/races/wines2whales.