Tyler Lange followed in his father, Malcolm’s, footsteps by winning the Cape Town Cycle Tour on Sunday.
The young man from the ASAP World Team had to fight hard for the victory. He had been in the second group on the road inside the final kilometre, but the jockeying for position in the front group allowed the chasers back into contention. This allowed Lange to pounce, outsprinting 2012 winner, Reinhardt Janse van Rensburg, to win his first and his family’s fourth title.
Near perfect conditions and a highly competitive 186 rider-strong elite men’s field ensured a record-breaking time.
While it was a warm and windless morning, it still took aggressive racing throughout the 109 kilometre course to shatter Robbie Hunter’s 17-year-old previous best of 2 hours, 27 minutes and 29 seconds.
Lange’s new record mark is 2 hours, 25 minutes and 48 seconds.
Janse van Rensburg thundered across the line in second, with Jaedon Terlouw, Travis Stedman, and Luke Moir completing the top five places.
“The last kay was super-fast and I wasn’t actually sure if it was going to come back together,” Lange said. “Then with about 400 to go we made contact and I managed to get on Reinhardt’s wheel and kicked past him.”
While the winner was slightly overwhelmed by the gravity of the moment, his father was clearly emotional with his son’s success.
“I tried to get him into every other sport – growing up – be it cricket, tennis, or golf, but he kept choosing cycling. So, we had to support his cycling. He’s raced overseas but as we all know it’s a very hard sport and he’s experienced some knocks and setbacks. So, to win a race like this really puts you in a place where you need to be. Hopefully from here it’s onwards and upwards.”
The elite women’s race at the Cape Town Cycle Tour tends to follow a similar pattern, but Pia Grünewald turned the 2025 edition on its head.
The LKT Team Woman time triallist put her strengths against the clock to great use as she launched a speculative attack on the foothills of Smitswinkel, just 25 kilometres into the 78 kilometre women’s course. The chase behind failed to organise until Chapman’s Peak Drive, and with a 3-minute advantage going into the final 27 kilometres, she had only to maintain her pace to win, ahead of a S’annara Grove lead final chase group.
“This is only my second race of the season, and my first victory,” Grünewald stated. “It’s been a great trip out to South Africa with the team and to seal it with a victory is very special. It’s very unexpected though. We were here to work for Nele Laing, but when I got away, I thought I just needed to keep pushing. The first time the team car could come up, they told me to just keep going, and that’s exactly what I did.”
Grünewald’s winning time was 2 hours, 5 minutes and 18 seconds. Grove led the chase group home 1 minute and 31 seconds later, pipping Littbarski-Gray for silver. Vera Looser and Kelsey van Schoor completed the top five places.
Cape Times