Ride Joburg: Terlouw Puts MTB Skills to Use in Sprint Victory

Jaedon Terlouw used his mountain biking prowess to dive down the inside of Ryan Gibbons and outsprint the defending champion en route to victory in the 2025 Ride Joburg. The PYGA Euro Steel rider’s victory on Sunday, 26 October, is the biggest of his young career and is all the sweeter given the calibre of racers he beat in the shadow of the mighty Soccer City stadium in Soweto. Along with the retiring Lidl Trek star, Terlouw also bested two-time champion Marc Pritzen in the chaotic sprint finish.

2025 Ride Joburg Women’s Race Report

The madcap finale came after a race which had been tense and tactical at times, before exploding into a contest of power climbing. Gibbons had suggested, before the start, that the first 44 kilometres, to the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit, would be relatively easy, but that it would get “spicy” as the course climbed back to Soweto. A tailwind in the finale added to the technicality of the run in, though with a highly select group coming to the line in the men’s race, no team dynamics came into play. It was mano a mano, rather, between Gibbons, Pritzen, and Terlouw.

The Fly Cool Collective team were forced to do much of the chasing when the Honeycomb 226ers and Tshenolo Pro Cycling had men in the early break. Photo by Tobias Ginsberg.

Earlier, on the run north through Johannesburg, several small attacks did little to reduce the size of the massive men’s peloton. High speeds and the large group made it tense, and a crash 16 kilometres in did nothing to ease the stress. Team Honeycomb 226ers and Tshenolo Pro Cycling used their strength in depth to ramp up the pressure, sending Jaco van Dyk and Thokozani Mahlangu up the road, with Chris Jooste, in a three-man break. Jooste then dropped back to the peloton, leaving Van Dyk and Mahlangu to lead by 33 seconds when the race reached Kyalami, with Keanan Roodt pulling a 94-rider strong peloton onto the famous race track.

Roodt’s Fly Cool Collective were working for Kent Main and were obliged to do the lion’s share of the chasing behind the two-rider break. Their efforts meant that when the cyclists left the car racing circuit, 5 kilometres later, and started the tougher second half of the Ride Joburg course that the gap was down to just 12 seconds. This effectively reset the battle for victory. Van Dyk and Mahlangu were caught on the climb up Main Road, which offered Ryno Schutte the opportunity to sprint from the bunch to claim the King of the Mountain hotspot, 58 kilometres into the race.

Marc Pritzen (leading) with Felix Stehli, Gustav Roller, and Ryno Schutte in action when the racing started to intensify. Photo by Tobias Ginsberg.

By this stage, the peloton had been reduced to 50-odd riders, but the key protagonists were present at the front. Though they had yet to put their noses in the wind, Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg, Gustav Basson, Brandon Downes, as well as Terlouw, Pritzen, Gibbons, and Main were in that group. The next 20 kilometres ground uphill, thinning the peloton and setting the strongest few up for a stinging attack.

This came at the 76-kilometre mark, on Jan Smuts Avenue, when Felix Stehli went clear with Gustav Roller, Gibbons, Janse van Rensburg, Terlouw, Main, Pritzen, and Schutte. The speed at which those eight riders went away suggested that while some may still be caught, the race winner was likely in that group. So it proved when the eight split down to four. Janse van Rensburg, Stehli, Roller, and Schutter could not follow the climbing tempo of Pritzen, Gibbons, Terlouw, and Main.

Marc Pritzen (leading), followed by Jaedon Terlouw and Ryan Gibbons. The trio’s collaboration ensured that they were able to keep the chasers at bay and contest for victory. Photo by Tobias Ginsberg.

Main was the next to crack, leaving three at the front. The danger in that situation was that a lack of unity between Pritzen, Gibbons, and Terlouw could let the chasers back into the race, but to their credit, the three men worked together well to extend their advantage over the final 10 kilometres.

“This is the biggest win of my career!” Terlouw grinned on the finish line. “It was a crazy race! The first half of the race was pretty much as usual, then on that climb that just keeps ramping up, I’m not sure what it’s called, everyone started going ham. At the top, there were just three of us left, and we worked well through the last ten kays.”

“It came down to a sprint. And it was a super technical finish,” Terlouw allowed. “I don’t know if it was a bit of a dodgy move that I pulled when I sent it on the inside of Ryan [Gibbons]. I was bouncing on these half-cobbles, and I almost had to use the curb as a berm to get around the corner. But I guess it was a good move. If I knew that I was going to do that, I probably wouldn’t have… but it worked out really well.”

The 2025 Ride Joburg men’s podium (from left to right): Ryan Gibbons, Jaedon Terlouw, and Marc Pritzen. Photo by George van der Spuy.

Gibbons did not protest the move, allowing Terlouw’s bravery to earn a career-defining victory. The young PYGA Euro Steel man thus takes home a R200 000 prize, while Gibbons and Pritzen will depart Ride Joburg R75 000 and R25 000 richer, respectively. 60 seconds behind the podium places, Main finished fourth.

Roller brought home a chasing group of four at 1 minute 39 seconds off the victor. The 18-year-old’s performance augurs well for the future as the first Junior [the category for 17 and 18-year-old cyclists] across the line and because he managed to beat the first Under-23 man, Schutte, in a sprint for fifth. Both Gustav Roller and Ryno Schutte are certainly names to remember and riders to watch in future editions of Ride Joburg.