African and South African Gravel Champion, Hayley Preen, headlines the elite line-ups for the 2026 King Price Race to the Sea, which is set to take place on Saturday, 5 September. The 100-Mile course will start on the banks of the Theewaterskloof Dam, near Villiersdorp, and take in a new route feature, the infamous Rusty Gate climb. Gaining nearly 600 metres in elevation in under 10 kilometres, the new King and Queen of the Mountain ascent presents a significantly tougher challenge than the Franschhoek Pass, which defined the opening kilometres of the traditional route.

A new challenge awaits

In July, the King Price Race to the Sea organisers announced a change of start venue, due to the flood damage that led to the indefinite closure of the Franschhoek Pass. The Theewater Sports Club start ensures more gravel in the 153-kilometre route to Benguela Cove, as well as 2 485 metres of climbing. This means the 2026 course is 4 kilometres shorter, but includes 85 metres more accumulated ascent. Rusty Gate’s summit lies within the first 20 kilometres, and it would take a brave attack to launch with over 130 kilometres to race, yet that is the type of move fans will be hoping to see from the race favourite.

A stacked women’s field

Preen is the elite women’s defending champion and the clear favourite for this year’s race. Since winning the 2025 edition, the ChemChamp Honeycomb star has won both the South African Marathon Mountain Bike and Gravel titles, defended her African Continental Gravel title, podiumed at the Cape Epic, and secured a fifth position at altitude in Colorado at the Leadville 100. Preen’s fiercest rivals for victory in 2026 are likely to be Lisa Bone, Sarah Maré, and the 2024 King Price Race to the Sea winner, Danielle du Toit.

Bone has enjoyed a stellar 2026, notching up victories and podium places on the road and at gravel races from the Ceder in February to Around the Pot in July. The Cycle Nation Enza Construction rider got the better of Preen at the Cape Town Cycle Tour and the South African Road Racing Championships, but has yet to beat the multi-disciplinary South African Champion off-road.

Maré’s race schedule has been equally full. She leads the Ford Trailseeker Series standings heading into the final round, in Wellington, and has been metronomically consistent in 2026. A lighter race load in August should see the Efficient Infiniti Insure rider fresh and rearing to go for a big two weekends in early September.

Du Toit is the unknown quantity among the big favourites. She has raced sparingly in 2026, but knows exactly how to win at the King Price Race to the Sea. Lilian Baber, Chloé Hopf [née Bishop], and Ila Stow are dark horses for podium places. Baber focuses predominantly on the cross-country discipline of mountain biking, making her move into 100-mile gravel racing a step into the unknown. However, such is Baber’s pedigree as a bike racer that she should not be discounted. Time and distance will not be a problem for Hopf or Stow, with the former the more likely of the pair to challenge, having secured a UCI Gravel World Series podium in her most recent 100-miler.

The elite men’s race

In the elite men’s race, Marco Joubert starts only his second race as double South African Gravel Champion on Saturday, 5 September. Having defended his title in June, Joubert’s sole gravel outing since was the African Gravel Championships, in Namibia, where he finished second. The second half of the King Price Race to the Sea course, in particular, suits the explosive power of the Toyota Specialized Imbuko star, and he will have confidence in his ability to win from a range of race situations.

As will his teammate and the defending champion, Travis Stedman, and the Ford Trailseeker Series general classification leader, Marc Pritzen. Stedman outsprinted Tristan Nortje to win in 2025, after distancing Pritzen in the closing kilometres. Such has been the South African Marathon Mountain Bike Champion’s form in 2026 that one cannot see Pritzen out of the mix for victory.

Jaedon Terlouw, Felix Stehli, and Wessel Botha are arguably four-star favourites behind Joubert, Stedman, and Pritzen. Terlouw’s freedom to race will depend on the Toyota Specialized Imbuko team’s tactics, though with Lood Goosen and Ignatius du Preez also on the start list, the squad certainly has the greatest strength in depth. The Honeycomb 226ers, with Pritzen and Stehli, will have to race smart and rely upon others to bring back a breakaway should one develop on the rolling gravel roads between Elandskloof, after the Rusty Gate climb, and Caledon, near the halfway mark.

Botha will have reinforcements in the form of Jan Withaar, Keagan Bontekoning, and Arno du Toit, who returns from wrist surgery. The Insect Science team could determine how the race plays out, especially if they can put the five-star favourites in difficulty by getting a rider in a dangerous long-range move. The teams may have the benefit of multiple cards to play across a course that favours dynamic racing, but there are riders in the field who could spring a surprise. Chief among those is Kent Main. One of the craftiest road racers in South Africa, Main could use his racing smarts to achieve a stellar King Price Race to the Sea result.

Follow the action from the 2026 edition: cycling fans can follow @race2thesea on Instagram or like the  Race 2 The Sea Facebook page to view updates from the course between Theewater Sports Club and Benguela Cove.

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