Ride Joburg: Le Court Underlines Stellar 2025 Season with Victory

Kim le Court’s groundbreaking 2025 season came to a stunning close on Sunday, 26 October on the streets of Johannesburg. The AG Insurance Soudal star added the Ride Joburg title, as well as the R200 000 winners’ prize, to her list of victories for the year, which also includes a Tour de France Femmes stage, a Tour of Britain Women stage win, victory at Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes, and the Giro dell’Emilia Internazionale Donne Elite title. Le Court had to be patient before launching solo in the final 20 kilometres, passing Magda Nieuwoudt en route to victory. Nieuwoudt slipped to third in the closing kilometres, while Lucy Young finished strongly behind the Mauritian to claim second.

Read the 2025 Ride Joburg Men’s Race Report

The racing began with an early break battling the headwind towards Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit before the big guns came out swinging in the second half of the 97-kilometre-long course. Tania Bester, Alexandra Classen, and Cashandra Oosthuizen formed an early group of three off the front before Oosthuizen was swallowed up by the chasing peloton on the Kyalami circuit. Heading south and climbing the leading duo were soon swallowed up, too, allowing Lisa Bone to go on the offensive.

The elite women’s peloton was stacked with local talent. Photo by Dominic Barnardt.

The Mzansi League points leader, Bone, was the first woman through the Queen of the Mountain hotspot 58 kilometres in. Her attack would also come to nothing, however. Primarily because of the aggression of Nieuwoudt. “This is my first big road race,” Nieuwoudt explained. “I’ve done one other small one before, and I’m actually a triathlete. So, I thought my best chance would be to attack and go solo. The speed in the early kilometres was too high, and the other women were really strong. But on the climbs in the second half of the course, I could make a difference.”

Having seized the lead with 30 kilometres to go, Nieuwoudt exploited a lack of cohesion in the chase group behind. “I was getting time gaps and heard that my advantage was going from 30 seconds, to a minute, to 1:50… but then Kim [le Court] caught me,” she noted.

Magda Nieuwoudt’s solo break saw her gain nearly 2 minutes over the chasing group, but that was not enough to hold off Kim le Court when the Mauritian attacked. Photo by Dominic Barnardt.

Le Court worked to whittle down the chase group to Bone, Lucy Young, Taneal Otto, Maude le Roux, Candice Lill, Sonica Klopper, Kelsey van Schoor, Tyler Jacobs, and Vera Looser. Then launched in pursuit of Nieuwoudt on her own. “When Kim [le Court] came past me, I thought I could stick with her. But she was just too fast!” Nieuwoudt praised. “I’ve been watching her on TV, and it was special to get to race alongside her.”

Once the Mauritian champion went solo, the result was no longer in question. In the final 15 kilometres, Le Court established a 79-second buffer to underline her status as Africa’s top road cyclist. Nieuwoudt faded over the final 10 kilometres to slip from second on the road to third across the line, as Young finished strongly. Looser, the 2022 Ride Joburg winner, brought home the group contesting fourth. The Namibian outsprinted the South African short track mountain biking champion, Jacobs, for fourth. Bone, Le Roux, Lill, Otto, and Klopper rounded out the top ten from the Looser group.

Kim le Court went solo with 15 kilometres to go and raced to her 7th victory of the 2025 season. Photo by Dominic Barnardt.

“I didn’t know what to expect coming into Ride Joburg,” Le Court said after wrapping up the victory. “I came to the race to honour the event and my South African support, but also to ride with the girls and race with people I haven’t competed against in a couple of years. I think it’s important to reconnect with the country and the people who have always supported me, and to try to inspire the young girls. There’s some great talent in this field, and I’m really impressed with some of the girls. The standard has definitely lifted since I last raced in South Africa. I hope I can inspire more girls to have the courage to chase their dreams, because it is possible if you don’t give up!”