{"id":5532,"date":"2026-06-01T07:42:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T05:42:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/?p=5532"},"modified":"2026-06-01T07:42:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T05:42:19","slug":"jaedon-terlouw-and-samantha-sanders-victorious-at-race-to-the-sun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/01\/jaedon-terlouw-and-samantha-sanders-victorious-at-race-to-the-sun\/","title":{"rendered":"Jaedon Terlouw and Samantha Sanders Victorious at Race to the Sun"},"content":{"rendered":"
Jaedon Terlouw and Samantha Sanders won the 2026 King Price Race to the Sun titles from fiercely competitive elite men\u2019s and women\u2019s races on Saturday, 30 May. Under blue skies on a warm North West Province winter\u2019s day, Terlouw launched a solo raid with just under 40 kilometres of the 158-kilometre course remaining to win ahead of his teammate, Tristan Nortje, and Insect Science\u2019s Jan Withaar. Sanders had to be more patient in her pursuit of victory, distancing all but Lisa Bone over the second half of the route, but doing enough in the final kilometre to be able to savour her success with a celebration on the Sun City finish line.<\/div>\n

The irrigation canals flowing from the Hartbeespoort Dam into the surrounding farming communities provided a beautiful backdrop for the opening kilometres. Photo by Dominic Barnardt.<\/em><\/p>\n

Race day had started misty and cool on the banks of the Hartbeespoort Dam, but warmed as the sun rose into a beautiful winter\u2019s morning. The racing hotted up as the mercury rose, proving once again why the King Price Race to the Sun is South Africa\u2019s premier gravel race. No other event in the country brings such a mix of road, mountain, and gravel bike specialists to the fore. Perhaps because the route from Die Oewer to Sun City mixed fast rolling gravel roads with sections of asphalt and short technical stretches. This allows road racers to compete with the more technically adept off-road campaigners.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The story pre-race had been how Ryan Gibbons and his Fly Cool Collective, in particular, would fare against the mountain bike teams, Toyota Specialized Imbuko and Insect Science. The answer was well, until a muddy section proved his undoing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Fly Cool Collective set the early pace until the group started to break apart in the\u00a0Sediba Kw\u00eale game reserve section, nearing the halfway point of the race. With 55 kilometres to go, the race entered a new phase in which Terlouw and Nortje began trading attacks. The pressure exerted by the Toyota Specialized Imbuko combination whittled the leading group down to four, as only Gibbons and Withaar could follow the repeated accelerations.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Terlouw and Nortje were happy to let Gibbons sprint for the King Price King of the Mountain hotspot prize, then attack on the next technical segment shortly thereafter. Having left the broad gravel roads for meandering tracks through the grasslands, the surface roughened. A muddy section along one such track proved Gibbon\u2019s undoing. A dropped chain and a cautious chase allowed Terlouw, Nortje, and Withaar to create a gap that the former World Tour road racer could not bridge across.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Terlouw then accelerated, and Withaar was unable to follow, allowing the Ride Joburg champion to fly solo through the final 40 kilometres. Behind Nortje was able to conserve energy, then attack Withaar, too, creating a perfect one-two for Toyota Specialized Imbuko. Withaar had to be content with third, while Gibbons lost fourth on the road to Jordan Boshoff, who finished with a powerful flourish.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an awesome event!\u201d Terlouw stated. \u201cThe Fly [Cool Collective] team took control from the start, until about halfway, when we went through the water point and started making it hard. When we hit the [Sediba Kw\u00eale] Reserve, we tried to make it even harder and drop a few guys on the corners through there. Back out on the district road, Tristan [Nortje] and I tried a few attacks, and eventually I managed to get away with one of my attacks. And from there it was a super hard time trial to the finish.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the elite women\u2019s race, the war of attrition steadily burned off contenders. Though Cycle Nation Enza Construction played their joker early in an attempt to disrupt Efficient Infiniti Insure\u2019s tactics. Bone\u2019s teammate,\u00a0Marzaan Mellett, attacked early, after just 23 kilometres, and established a maximum advantage of 1-minute over the Sanders-led main peloton.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Having finished on the King Price Race to the Sun podium before, but never having won the race, Sanders must have been wondering if all her efforts would leave her empty-handed once more. Despite having to work to shut down Mellett\u2019s break and then to keep the tempo high, the eventual race winner never tired. By the halfway point, she had reduced the lead group to just five.\u00a0Sarah Mar\u00e9 joined Sanders for Efficient Infiniti Insure in that final selection, while Tshenolo Pro Cycling was represented by Lucy Young and Taneal Otto. Bone was the lone Cycle Nation Enza Construction rider to make the group.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In Sediba Kw\u00eale, inside 60 kilometres to go, Young began to lose contact. The next to be distanced was her teammate, Otto. Bone kicked to claim the King Price Queen of the Mountain prize, and still had the reserves to follow Sanders when\u00a0Mar\u00e9 was eventually dropped, too. Heading into the final kilometres, it looked like the day\u2019s primary protagonist would be forced to sprint the fast-finishing Bone for the title.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Fortunately for Sanders, leading into the finishing chute gave her an advantage that Bone could not overturn on tired legs. Crossing the line, the queen of the 2026 King Price Race to the Sun was able to sit up and enjoy her victory. Bone finished second and\u00a0Mar\u00e9 third. Taneal Otto was fourth, ahead of Maude le Roux, who had finished strong and overhauled Young on the run into Sun City.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI have to say it was a really cool race with very positive racing, all the women were keen to make it exciting, which is great,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cAt the [King Price] QOM, I said to Lisa [Bone] that I wasn\u2019t going to contest for the hotspot, but let\u2019s keep rolling. And that\u2019s where we managed to get away with Sarah [Mar\u00e9]. I just drove the break really hard in a group of three, rather than five, and from there it worked out perfectly.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2026 King Price Race to the Sun Results<\/b><\/p>\n

Elite Men\u2019s Results:<\/i><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Jaedon Terlouw: Toyota Specialized Imbuko (4:11:55)<\/li>\n
  2. Tristan Nortje: Toyota Specialized Imbuko (4:13:06 | +1:11)<\/li>\n
  3. Jan Withaar: Insect Science (4:14:16 | +2:21)<\/li>\n
  4. Jordan Boshoff: Project Dream SA (4:17:53 | +5:58)<\/li>\n
  5. \n
    Ryan Gibbons: Fly Cool Collective (4:17:55 | +6:00)<\/p>\n

    Elite Women\u2019s Results:<\/i><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      \n
    1. Samantha Sanders: Efficient Infiniti Insure (4:50:01)<\/li>\n
    2. Lisa Bone: Cycle Nation Enza Construction (4:50:03 | +2)<\/li>\n
    3. Sarah Mare: Efficient Infiniti Insure (4:51:14 | +1:11)<\/li>\n
    4. Taneal Otto: Tshenolo Pro Cycling (5:00:40 | +10:39)<\/li>\n
    5. \n
      Maude le Roux: Tshenolo Pro Cycling (5:01:47 | +11:46)<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Jaedon Terlouw and Samantha Sanders won the 2026 King Price Race to the Sun titles from fiercely competitive elite men\u2019s and women\u2019s races on Saturday, Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5533,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cycling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5532"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5534,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5532\/revisions\/5534"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}