Jackson and Exelby win the stage

The long awaited shake-up in the Klein Karoo International Cape Pioneer Trek mountain bike race came during stage 3 as the riders diced and jostled between the Groot and Klein Karoo, in conditions mercifully cooler than yesterday, but with winds that attacked from all sides. The winners took just under five hours to complete the 113km route from Prince Albert to De Rust.

Road-racing style platoons formed during the slog into a headwind for the first 35km to water point 1. Most of the top teams made the cut, holding a pace of a little under 30kph. The teams kept to a brief stop and then turned into the vast Groot Sleutelfontein wildlife reserve and quickly spread out on the twisting, narrow jeep track that would take them back through the Swartberg range, into the Klein Karoo.

The Tread Magazine Team of Donovan Jackson and Roan Exelby pulled out all the stops (and were still able to smile at the end) by winning the stage and moving up to second place in the general classification. At water point 3, they had six minutes on international riders Christoph Sauser and Bobby Behan (Specialized-Songo), now fourth in the overall after the sudden withdrawal, due to illness, of Yolande de Villiers, who with her partner Johann Labuschagne had led in the Mixed Team competition.

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Sauser and his partner / manager Behan rode well despite repeated, but unconvincing denials that the two were just on holiday.

General classification leaders Erik Kleinhans and Johnny Kritzinger (Memory Foundation) finished fourth and almost 14 minutes behind when Kleinhans succumbed to an inconvenient illness, one that started yesterday after a convincing stage win. Although they kept their general classification lead, it shrunk by about ten minutes.

Fienie Barnard and Esther Lategan were solid again during the stage and seem assured of the women's title.

Cornelius Muller (Squirt Team) experienced some abdominal pain and said that he was praying for the water points. He and his teammate, Lieb Loots were displaced into third in the General classification despite beating although beating Kleinhans and Kritizinger by more than five minutes.

With Yolande de Villiers' withdrawal, Peter and Ischen Stopforth (Marsillio Projects) moved up in the mixed team category and are now seventh overall.

Dominating the masters, the Sludge "boys" Brian Strauss and Linus van Onselen finished in 5:20:52 and easily beat the veterans Gus Klohn and Mark Wiederkehr of Infradev Dunkeld Cycles. John Thompson and his partner, Duncan Bowman (Toyota) flew into second place in the veterans today.

Today's stage featured some classic singletrack, built by legendary route planner, Katot Meyer. Tomorrow's 103km stage will take riders to Uniondale; it's been billed as the "hardest" of the event.

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