Tiffany Cromwell and Jaco van Dyk emerged victorious in the Swartberg 100, a 170km South African UCI Gravel World Series race that started in Prince Albert. Cromwell expressed in an Instagram post that it was a challenging day, especially when not feeling at her best, but she pushed through and enjoyed the stunning course. She finished with a comfortable margin of over 14 minutes ahead of second-placed Robyn de Groot, and more than half an hour ahead of Layla Schwellnus.
On the men’s side, the competition was closer as Jaco van Dyk narrowly crossed the finish line just one second ahead of Marco Joubert, with Wessel Botha finishing in third place a minute and 42 seconds later. The race on Saturday served as a qualifier for the UCI Gravel World Championships in Belgium in October, featuring over 3,000m of elevation gain, with the highest point being the Swartberg pass at an altitude of 1583m.
In the women’s elite category, the top five finishers were Tiffany Cromwell in first place with a time of 6:13:18, followed by Robyn de Groot in second place, Layla Schwellnus in third place, Zanri Rossouw in fourth place, and Anneke Lund in fifth place. In the men’s elite category, the top five finishers were Jaco van Dyk, Marco Joubert, Wessel Botha, Tristan Nortje, and Rossouw Bekker.