Kent Main and Tiffany Keep were worthy winners of the 46^th edition of the Cape Town Cycle Tour. Main slipped off the front of a select group, inside the final 5 kilometres and time trialled to the line. While in the women’s race Keep edged out S’annara Grove with a bike throw on the line to claim victory by a tyre’s width after a fiercely contested sprint.

The Elite Men’s Race

The men’s race started with bang. The pace was frenetic with Jaco van Dyk making the first attempted breakaway. Once the Honeycomb Pro Cycling rider was caught, a group of six launched clear. They were driven down the Blue Route by Theuns Van Der Bank, with Brad Scott, Dan Loubser and Luke Moir also helping extend the gap. Despite having a teammate in the break, Honeycomb recognised the danger posed by the men at the front and worked to bring the leaders back.

The peloton never made the catch. Honeycomb’s pace shredded the field and only a select, reduced group, were able to reel in the leaders, who themselves had been whittled down to just Loubser and Moir by the time they reached Scarborough. The duo at the front were eventually caught approaching the final significant climb of the race by Alan Hatherly, Kent Main, Marc Pritzen, Jaedon Terlouw, Charlie Aldridge, Jaco Venter and Alex Miller.

As the catch was made the pace increased and Loubser and Terlouw were unable to follow on the steepest pitches of Suikerbossie. This left a group of Hatherly, Main, Pritzen, Terlouw, Aldridge, Venter, Miller, and Moir to fight it out for victory. A tactical battle played out over the next few kilometres until Main ghosted off the front. “Kent [Main] got a bit of a gap and I was expecting Charlie [Aldridge] to chase him down for Alan [Hatherly],” Namibian Road Race Champion Miller explained. “But nobody made the effort initially and suddenly he has a good advantage over us.”

Once clear Main put his head down and charged for Green Point. Only within the final 400 metres could he relax and soak up the emotions. With a double-armed salute, followed by a gesticulation to his new sponsors, RKC Collective, he crossed the line.

“I’ve got goosebumps,” Main grinned. “It’s amazing! It was an amazing race. It was super hard right from the beginning but I think how tough it was actually worked in our favour. It’s amazing to have won it!”

Behind Main, the chase group fought out a messy sprint for second, which British mountain biker Aldridge won ahead of his Cannondale Factory Racing teammate Hatherly. Venter was fourth, with Moir completing the top five ahead of Prizen and Miller.

The Elite Women’s Race

In the women’s race, the early headwinds and lack of teams made for a tactical first half to the 78-kilometre route. The favourites marked each other and were content to bide their time. Smitswinkel usually serves to thin the field but with a block headwind a large peloton summited the opening climb together then raced downhill and downwind past the Cape Point National Park and through Scarborough as well as Misty Cliffs together. Only on the run into Chapmans Peak Drive did the group begin to meaningfully stretch as Juanita Mackenzie went on a solo raid.

At the foot of the famous climb, Grove powered past Mackenzie with Keep on her wheel. Grove set the pace up Little Chappies before Keep countered on Chapmans Peak proper. Only South African Road Champion Carla Oberholzer could follow the DAS Hutchinson Brother UK’s rider’s tempo.

Grove managed the gap behind and kept the Sandton City Cycle Nation rider and her fellow leader to a 10-second margin over the summit of the climb. Dropping to Hout Bay, the women’s favourites came back together with Vera Looser, Jo van de Winkel and Catherine Colyn joining Grove at the front with Oberholzer and Keep. Through Hout Bay there was a moment for the leading six to compose themselves before more fireworks on Suikerbossie.

Van de Winkel was the first to attack climbing out of Hout Bay, but Keep blew past her within 500 metres of the summit – with Grove, Oberholzer and Looser in tow. Van de Winkel dug deep to hold Looser’s wheel but was not able to do so.

As such, a quartet of favourites started the descent past the Twelve Apostles together. They then worked together well to ensure none of the chasers were able to regain contact. Once Keep, Grove, Oberholzer and Looser reached Beach Road in Sea Point it was clear that the race would be determined by a sprint.

Grove was the first to kick, jumping clear by a handful of metres and then trying to hold her power through the agonising final 50 metres. Just when it looked like the Doltcini O’Shea Cycling Team rider was going to do enough Keep came ranging up on her outside. The pair threw for the line in unison and the DAS Hutchinson Brother UK rider edged it by the narrowest of margins. Looser and Oberholzer thundered across the line heart-beats later, with only a few hundred of a second separating the top four.

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The next five minutes were anxious ones for Keep and Grove as they awaited the official decision. When it came Keep was elated and Grove disappointed. “We didn’t know who got it,” Keep confessed. “It was super, super close. S’annara [Grove] jumped me with about 100 metres to go and I had to work quite hard to get back to her wheel. So, ja, I’m really, very, happy with that!”

Behind the battle for first, Van de Winkel rolled across the line solo in fifth, 15 seconds behind the winner. Keep’s victory makes her the first new Cape Town Cycle Tour elite women’s winner since 2018 and only the third woman to claim the women’s race title. She joins Kim le Court and Cerise Willeit in this prestigious group and confirms her evolution from young talent to established South African road racing star.

2024 Cape Town Cycle Tour

Men’s Results 

1. Kent Main: RKC Collective (2:31:21)
2. Charlie Aldridge: Cannondale Factory Racing (2:31:35 | +14)
3. Alan Hatherly: Cannondale Factory Racing (2:31:36 | +15)
4. Jaco Venter: MadMacs (2:31:36 | +15)
5. Luke Moir: Cube Factory Racing XC (2:31:36 | +15)

Women’s Results:

1. Tiffany Keep: DAS Hutchinson Brother UK (2:12:01)
2. S’annara Grove: Doltcini O’Shea Cycling Team (ST)
3. Vera Looser: Efficient Infiniti Insure (ST)
4. Carla Oberholzer: Santon City Cycle Nation (ST)
5. Jo van de Winkel: Santon City Cycle Nation (2:12:16 | + 15)

Under 17 Boys Results:
1. Josh Johnson 2:05:31.120
2. Dean Woolley 2:05:31.227
3. Faraz Khatieb 2:05:31.323
4. Daniel Le Roux 2:06:06.703
5. Cullen Posthumus 2:08:11.990

To view the full results from the 2024 Cape Town Cycle Tour, please click here.

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