{"id":954826,"date":"2026-11-01T22:32:14","date_gmt":"2026-11-01T22:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/954826\/"},"modified":"2026-11-01T22:32:14","modified_gmt":"2026-11-01T22:32:14","slug":"matt-beers-defends-gravel-burn-title-as-nele-laing-leads-overall-from-start-to-finish-across-south-africas-great-karoo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/954826\/","title":{"rendered":"Matt Beers defends Gravel Burn title as Nele Laing leads overall from start to finish across South Africa\u2019s Great Karoo"},"content":{"rendered":"

2026 Nedbank Gravel Burn<\/a>. Beers secured his second consecutive title, despite not winning a stage, while Laing dominated the women\u2019s race, leading from start to finish and claiming two stage victories across the seven-day event.<\/p>\n

Beers moved into the overall lead after finishing second to Filippo Colombo (SCOTT-SRAM) on stage 2, setting up a closely fought battle between the two riders for the remainder of the race. The South African prevailed, finishing 32 seconds ahead of Colombo. Tristan Nortje (Toyota Specialized Imbuko) completed the overall podium, 59 seconds behind the winner.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love stage racing and I love gravel, so this suits me. I had a really lucky week and it was such a close race. Racing abroad is always really hard, but racing at home on a big stage like this is great. I always try to take advantage of it and represent South Africa,\u201d Beers said.<\/p>\n

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\"Leader\n<\/p>\n

Leader Matt Beers leads the front group which includes closest rival, Filippo Colombo (Image credit: Nedbank Gravel Burn\/James Cameron Heron)<\/p>\n

Laing, who was fourth at the UCI Gravel World Championships in Nannup, made an immediate impact by pulling on the orange leader\u2019s jersey after winning the opening stage. The German reinforced her grip on the race with a second stage victory on stage 3 and maintained her lead through to the finish. Hayley Preen (ChemChamp Honeycomb), who also claimed two stage wins, finished second overall, 1:05 behind Laing. Clara Koppenburg (Tudor Pro Cycling) secured third place, 4:28 back.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis was my first gravel stage race, and my first stage race this long. Being here in this beautiful environment in South Africa is special, and being here with my whole team was the best way to end the season,\u201d Laing said.<\/p>\n

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Going into the final two stages, Beers held a 32-second lead over Colombo while Laing was still in the orange jersey with Preen at 56 seconds back.<\/p>\n

The penultimate day of racing on stage 6, challenged the riders with highly variable road surfaces and several river crossings over the 76km route and 700m of climbing to the orange windmill finish outside the gates of Shamwari Private Game Reserve. American Griffin Easter (OpiCure Foundation) took the win from the breakaway in the pro men\u2019s race.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI crashed out last year after Stage 3, so I\u2019m beyond stoked to be here this deep in the race and take the stage win. I\u2019m pumped!\u201d Easter said after his first stage win. \u201cOn Stage 2 I broke a wheel, which killed my GC hopes. Since then, I\u2019ve been trying hard to get away, and today it worked. I want to be here [at Nedbank Gravel Burn] for as long as this event is running. This win will stay with me for a long, long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Griffin\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Nedbank Gravel Burn\/Paul Ganse)<\/p>\n

In the pro women\u2019s stage 6, Nathalie Eklund (58&fam) was awarded the win after a commissaires\u2019 ruling relegated three riders in the sprint. Nine riders were sprinting to the line, with previous stage winner Preen crossing the line first, but following a protest and a review of race footage, the commissaires relegated three riders – Preen, Koppenburg and Carolin Schiff (Canyon DT Swiss ATR) – for failing to heed a safety warning issued by a race official in the run-in to the sprint.<\/p>\n

The final stage was then shortened to 59.5km with 1,050m of climbing. With time and kilometres running out, Colombo launched attack after attack, but though the accelerations forced a split, he was not able to drop Beers from the lead group. As the finish line approached, Hugo Drechou (Gravel Nation) launched from the back of the group and surged up the right-hand side to take his first stage win of the week.<\/p>\n

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Beers finished sixth in the tight group, to claim his second title. \u201cThe racing was a lot more intense and tactical this year. Filippo made my life properly difficult and gave it everything,\u201d said Beers. \u201cThere was too much wind to do anything today other than cover the moves. I just had to race a clever race. Sometimes it\u2019s boring, but often that\u2019s how you win.”<\/p>\n

Five riders pulled away on a climb in the pro women\u2019s stage, with Laing, Preen, Koppenburg, along with Alexis Skarda (SCOTT-SRAM) and Olivia Hottinger (SCOTT-SRAM). Skarda took advantage of Laing marking Preen to get away in the closing kilometres to take her first stage victory in the race.<\/p>\n

Approaching the final finish line, Laing accelerated away from the bunch to add an additional 9 seconds to her GC lead.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a little nervous this morning because I felt the pressure. We wanted to get the climber\u2019s jersey back and keep the GC,\u201d said Laing. \u201cI was also quite excited about the race being shortened, as we knew the GC was pretty much safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Racers\n<\/p>\n

Racers during stage 7 on Shamwari loop, Eastern Cape, South Africa (Image credit: Nedbank Gravel Burn\/Josh Thorburn)<\/p>\n

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