CYCLING NEWS - On Saturday, 17 January, the South African and global mountain biking season gets underway at the Momentum Medical Scheme Attakwas Extreme, presented by Biogen. 

Dubbed the Hell of the South, it challenges riders to an infamously tough, 120-kilometre course from Chandelier Game Lodge, near Oudtshoorn, to the Pine Creek Resort, in Great Brak. 

Boasting UCI Class 1 status, it attracts some of the world’s best mountain bikers, and for the 20^th anniversary edition, those include the defending champion and double cross-country World Champion, Alan Hatherly.

In 2026, Hatherly starts his season, which will once again be split between the road, for Team Jayco AlUla, and mountain biking, for the Giant Factory Off-Road Team, with a traverse of the fabled Attakwaskloof. 

He, the other 48 UCI elite men’s riders, the 19 UCI elite women, as well as the nearly 1 000 committed amateurs, will face a slightly different challenge to the one presented in recent years. Not for 18 years has the race entered the kloof from Safranriver.

An update to the first 50 kilometres sees a 250-metre reduction in the total metres of climbing, and a 4-kilometre shortening of the best-known route, but Dryland Event Management believes the changes will lead to a faster and more competitive race. 

“To get to Safranriver the route misses out on the two rocky climbs between the old Water Point 1 and 2, and along with a bit less climbing, the roads and singletracks are more ridable. I doubt anyone will need to put a foot down before the climb to the King and Queen of the Mountain hotspot, at the summit of the Attakwaskloof Pass,” Henco Rademeyer of Dryland predicted.

“The changes could lead to a more tactical first 40 kilometres to the elite rider tech zone [at Safranriver/Water Point 2], but thereafter it will be as fierce as ever climbing to the kloof,” Rademeyer continued. 

“The final 54 kilometres, from Bonniedale farm to the finish line, at Pine Creek, remain as tough as ever too. We are expecting a fresh southeasterly wind on race day, too, which is a double-edged sword. While it will cool everyone down, it will also be a headwind home.”

Temperatures are predicted to remain below 30 degrees centigrade on the 17^th, though in the Klein Karoo and Attakwaskloof where the wind will have minimal effect, it will feel hotter. 

The climb to the summit of the Attakwaskloof Pass remains the key test of the 120-kilometre route from Chandelier Game Lodge to Pine Creek Resort. Photo by Max Sullivan.

The heat and rocky route suit the women’s double defending champion, Samantha Sanders. Others may wilt in challenging conditions, yet the reigning South African Marathon Champion excels in hot weather.

Sanders, who won in 2024 and 2025, will face off against the South African Gravel Champion, Hayley Preen, five-time title holder Yolande de Villiers, and 2023 winner Sarah Hill, in what is likely to be a fierce four-way fight for victory. 

Kelsey van Schoor has the potential to join that tussle, having finished fifth at the race on three occasions since her debut in 2021. To do so, Van Schoor will need to hold off fellow young talents like Chloe Chesterton, Karlise Scheepers, Lianke Fourie, Ella Corrigan, and Julia Marx.

Samantha Sanders (leading) has won the 2024 and 2025 editions and is seeking to add a third title to her impressive palmarès. Photo by Oakpics.

Roxanne Kemp, who steps up to racing for the Safari Essence Titian Racing squad, makes her first start in her new team’s colours at the first race of the 2026 season. 

Kemp will be looking to best the likes of Van Schoor and Co, as well as the former German U23 National Champion, Felicitas Geiger. 

Hayley Preen was Sanders’ closest rival in 2025 and has developed further as an off-road racer over the last 12 months. Photo by Max Sullivan.

Chloe Bishop and Sanchia Malan will also be eager to challenge for a top-five position. Tania Bugarin Ortiz is another interesting addition to the start list. 

The Tshenolo Pro Cycling rider will be making her Hell of the South debut, and despite stellar results in the national series races in Gauteng, is somewhat of an unknown quantity across the 120-kilometre course. 

Tarryn Povey, who is making her return to racing after breaking her collarbone in November, completes the elite women’s field, with Rethe Mostert, Juanita Mackenzie, and Sarita Louw.

In the elite men’s race, Hatherly faces a stern test presented by riders from the Toyota Specialized Imbuko, Honeycomb 226ers, Insect Science, Singer KTM, and Tshenolo Pro Cycling teams. In 2025, Tristan Nortje was Hatherly’s nearest rival, and a year on, the George local will be looking to win the Hell of the South to complete his sweep of Momentum Medical Scheme presented by Biogen-sponsored events. 

Tristan Nortje is eager to add the Hell of the South title to his haul of major South African event victories. Photo by Max Sullivan.

He is the reigning Tankwa Trek and Cape Pioneer champion, having won the former with Marco Joubert in February 2025 and the latter with Travis Stedman in October last year. The Toyota Specialized Imbuko squad’s expansion for 2026 also gives Nortje more support on the trails, though it is not a team's race, the dynamic of team tactics may come into effect.

Nortje’s teammates, Joubert, Stedman, Lood Goosen, Ignatius du Preez, and Jaedon Terlouw could well play a key role in determining the outcome of the race, especially as Nortje, Joubert, Stedman, and Terlouw are more than capable of challenging for outright victory. 

The other squad with strength in depth is the German Singer KTM outfit. Jakob Hartmann, Simon Stiebjahn, and Martin Frey are classy and highly experienced marathon racers, while Andreas Seewald is a former World and current European Marathon Champion and has the ideal characteristics to conquer the Attakwaskloof and power across the rolling roads to Pine Creek Resort.

The same is true for Marc Pritzen and Felix Stehli. The Honeycomb 226ers pair will split their time between mountain and gravel bike racing in 2026, and are both proven at the longer marathon races. 

Having switched focus from road to off-road racing three years ago, Pritzen has found not only comfort on the bike but consistency in his performances, too. 

A good result at the Momentum Medical Scheme Attakwas Extreme, presented by Biogen, could set the South African Marathon Champion up for a season of sustained success.

Arno du Toit put in the ride of the day in 2024, recovering from outside of the top ten, at Water Point 2, to finish third behind Hatherly and Nortje. Photo by Max Sullivan.

Insect Science’s four racers will likewise be looking to kick start the new year, on new bikes, with a strong showing. Arno du Toit arguably put in the ride of the day, recovering from a near-catastrophic mechanical and dropping out of the top ten to claim third, last year, and a trouble-free race would surely see him in contention for victory. 

Wessel Botha, meanwhile, is the course record holder, having set the current mark to beat of 4 hours, 46 minutes, and 22 seconds in 2021.

The updates to the course for 2026 could see that mark challenged, despite the predicted headwind in the final 54 kilometres, making for less-than-ideal conditions for a fast time. Jan Withaar and Johan van Zyl add two more strings to the Insect Science race day bow.

Tshenolo’s Johan de Villiers, Daniel Kotze, and Halallisani Ndebele are outsiders for a top result, with De Villiers the most likely of the three to challenge Hatherly and co. Other individuals to watch are German multi-disciplinary star Sascha Weber, privateer for 2026, Herman Fourie, and Computer Mania’s Daniel van der Walt. 

Knysna local and Pump for Peace talent, Damon Terblanche, is a dark horse for a top ten placing, as is Cronje Beukes, who has a point to prove following an injury-disrupted 2025. Erik Heyns, Dusty Day, Martin van der Westhuizen, Gerrit Moelich, Johan Botha, Ockert Struwig, Thomas Dunkley, Remi Crinon, Joshua Louw, Aaron Budke, Daniel Scheepers, Bertus van Zyl, Jean-Pierre du Plessis, Louis Terblanche, Arend Brink, Andre van Rooyen, Thinus Maritz, Morne Immelman, Kelton Miller, Brian Brummer, Pieter Korkie, Ruan Portwig, and Keegan Tullis virtually complete the men’s elite line-up. 

The final rider in the UCI men’s field is the ever-popular Rogan Smart. A bellwether of sorts for performance, as he juggles a full-time job with riding responsibilities, Smart is the rider to follow for inexperienced Hell of the South campaigners and the rider any full-time professional has to beat to avoid questions about their preseason preparations.

The favourite remains South Africa’s top mountain biker, Hatherly. Though doubling up has proved difficult over the two decades of the event, in the men’s race. 

Only Matthys Beukes has achieved this feat in the last 10 years. The reasons for this are not limited to the difficulty of the route, or the roughness of the terrain, which makes two puncture or mechanical free years in a row unlikely, but also its position at the start of the season. 

Fitness and form are still largely unknown heading into the race, and though preseason data might point to a good off-season, only racing can really tell what an individual’s performance level is.

It is for this reason and for a first look at fan favourites in the new kits and on new bikes that supporters of cycling eagerly anticipate the Momentum Medical Scheme Attakwas Extreme, presented by Biogen. To watch the action as it unfolds, like the Momentum Medical Scheme Attakwas Extreme, presented by Biogen, Facebook page or follow @attakwasmtb on Instagram. For more information, visit www.atta.co.za.

The Momentum Medical Scheme Attakwas Extreme, presented by Biogen, route crosses rivers, plains, and mountains, while taking in the arid Klein Karoo, the rocky Attakwaskloof, and the lush Garden Route. Photo by Max Sullivan.

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