Cloaked in clouds and doused in drizzle, the Swartberg Pass proved pivotal on Stage 3 of the Garden Route Giro on Wednesday, 15 April 2026. Cronje Beukes\u00a0once again proved himself to be the strongest climber in the men\u2019s race, putting time into his nearest rivals, Wessel Botha and Marco Joubert, over the summit and holding on to some of those gains to the Prince Albert finish line.\u00a0Mari\u00eblle Trouwborst also used the pass to great effect, snapping the elastic that had bound her to Lisa Bone en route to an emphatic, but not entirely drama-free stage victory.<\/p>\n
Herman Fourie\u2019s solo attack ignited Stage 3. Photo by Shift Media Co.<\/em><\/p>\n Stage 3 featured an 89-kilometre-long route, from Calitzdorp on the South of the Swartberg Mountain Range to Prince Albert, on the Northern side of the Klein-Great Karoo divide. Though the early kilometres were undulating, they trended steadily uphill to Kobus se Gat at the base of Swartberg Pass, 56 kilometres into the stage.\u00a0Die Top<\/em>, as the summit is known, came 68 kilometres into the stage, and after a six-kilometre-long plateau, the descent to Prince Albert began. From the foot of the final descent, the run into the finish was a nine-kilometre blast on a pan-flat road.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Knowing that the climb would be challenging, Bone seized an early opportunity to steal a march on Trouwborst and Vera Looser. \u201cAs the neutral zone ended, I managed to jump on Kent Main\u2019s wheel, and he pulled away with a small group of men,\u201d she explained. \u201cThat advantage was short-lived as Mari\u00eblle, Vera, and Cherise [Willeit] came across with another group of men.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Once the top four women on the general classification standings were together in a group, the race settled down into a war of attrition. Willeit and then Looser were unable to follow when the rolling hills became longer and steeper, leaving Bone and Trouwborst to contest the intermediate Sprint and Queen of the Mountain hotspots. Bone took maximum points at the first Sprint and Climb locations, but Trouwborst showed her intent for the ascent to come by winning the Sprint at the base of Swartberg Pass.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n On the climb, she continued to up the tempo until Bone could no longer follow. \u201cI rode a tempo I believed I could hold all the way, and managed to get a good gap on Lisa,\u201d Trouwborst said. \u201cLuckily, I was able to gain enough to stay in front when I punctured on the descent. I had to stop to inflate the tyre, but it kept losing air. By the finish line, it was nearly completely flat again.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Despite riding on a tyre that was losing air, Trouwborst won the stage by two minutes and 16 seconds. Having held a slender two-second lead going into the day, Bone knew she had lost the yellow First Ascent jersey when she crossed the line in second. The result means that Trouwborst now leads Bone by two minutes and 13 seconds. Looser, who was third on the day, is 18 minutes and 28 seconds back. Cherise Willeit is fourth in GC, and Catherine Kruger, who enjoyed her best day of the race, moved up to fifth overall after Bianca Haw lost over half an hour.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In the men\u2019s race, Herman Fourie would have snapped up the combativity prize if an award of that nature were distributed daily. Having lost two hours with a puncture on Stage 3, Fourie was no threat to the general classification. As a result, he was given the space to build up a three-minute and 20-second advantage by the foot of Swartberg Pass.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The group on the road behind Fourie included Beukes, Joubert, Botha,\u00a0Ignatius du Preez,\u00a0Jan Withaar, Andre van Rooyen, Dan Loubser, Keagan Bontekoning, and Keegan Tullis. The Insect Science and Toyota Specialized Imbuko teams, who had strength in numbers in the pack, opted to leave the pace-making to the man in yellow.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThe teams tried to work me over a bit,\u201d Beukes stated. \u201cBut I kept the tempo steady and waited for Swartberg Pass. I\u2019m pretty light at the moment and climbing well, so I was confident I could execute my plan on the Pass.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As the gradients increased, the race leader cranked up the speed, and soon riders were being shed from the group; Fourie\u2019s advantage rapidly dissolved. Visibility was limited in the rain, but that did not dampen Beukes\u2019 performance. With Withaar, Loubser, Van Rooyen, Bontekoning, Tullis, and Du Preez dropped from the group, Fourie was passed. Then Beukes went on the offensive.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI had targeted Stage 3 before the race already, and really wanted to gain time today,\u201d Beukes admitted.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Joubert was the first of the top three to cede a metre, then a handful more. Moments later, Botha was distanced too. Despite Du Preez coming back to his Toyota Specialized Imbuko teammate, Joubert could not stop Beukes from gaining time to the summit.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n At\u00a0Die Top<\/em>, Beukes had earned a 90-second advantage over Botha. Joubert was a further minute back. This allowed the race leader to descend more cautiously than his rivals, meaning Botha could reduce the gap slightly. For the second day in a row, Beukes hung on to win and gain time on the overall standings.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Botha was second on the day, losing 34 seconds to Beukes, but gaining one minute and 53 seconds on Joubert, who finished third. Du Preez was fourth on the day. Tullis led home Bontekoning and Van Rooyen in the battle for fifth. This means that Beukes leads Joubert by three minutes and 12 seconds going into Stage 4. Botha is a further 81 seconds back in third, ahead of Bontekoning and Tullis in the GC standings.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Another Swartberg Pass ascent awaits on Stage 4. Having climbed from the south, the fourth day will see the Garden Route Giro ascend from the north – the steeper of the two directions. Thereafter, the 87-kilometre course trends downhill to De Rust on the Oude Muragie gravel road. In total, the stage features 1\u00a0650 metres of climbing, and the day should be a fast one ahead of the Queen Stage on Friday, 17 April.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n To follow the action, as it unfolds on Stage 4, like the\u00a0Garden Route Giro<\/a>\u00a0Facebook page and follow\u00a0@gardenroutegiro<\/a>\u00a0on Instagram. Cycling fans can also tune in for daily highlights on the\u00a0Dryland Event Management<\/a>\u00a0YouTube channel and read the daily news releases on their favourite cycling platform.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n