Coetzee, Greeff win penultimate WPP race 

Drikus Coetzee and Anri Greeff were the individual winners of the fifth leg of the Nedbank Windhoek Pedal Power Cycling series at Dobra Loops on Sunday.

In the men’s race over seven laps and a total distance of 101,5km, Coetzee of Team Hollard and Christiaan van Rensburg of Team Cymot, broke away early from the chasing pack and steadily pulled away to finish well ahead of the leading peloton.

Coetzee went on to win the race in two hours, 18 minutes and 34 seconds, with Van Rensburg following four seconds behind in second place.

Martin Freyer of Team Hollard Life led in the chasing pack nearly five minutes behind in 2:23:35, followed by Igor Silva of Team JT Angola (2:23:35), Kevin Lowe of of Cymot Racing Team (2:23:37) and Roger Suren of Team Mannie’s Bike Mecca (2:23:51).

With one race remaining in the series, Coetzee is now well-placed to win the overall title for the third year in a row.

However, the team series is still wide open, with Cymot Racing A on 105 points and Hollard Insurance on 101 points battling it out for the title.

After the race Coetzee said he had a good ride.

“The guys started attacking after about seven kilometres into the race, but I just tried one breakaway move and saw I was gone, with Christiaan (van Rensburg) on my wheel. From there it was basically a 90km effort, I just had to go full-out because once you get a gap you just have to go, but I know my range and I can go solo over 80 or 90km, so luckily it worked out today,” he said.

“I took Christiaan along and he was a good sportsman today – I pulled 98% of the time but it was nice having him along and we are also good friends off the bike,” he added.

Coetzee, who became a father for the first time five months ago, said it has now become a bit difficult to plan far ahead.

“My wife and I just got a baby daughter five months ago, so I’m taking it step by step and taking a sort of a sabbatical in terms of big events. I think I’ll probably focus on the Desert Dash in December and then next year I’ll hopefully have more events planned,” he said.

In the elite women’s race over 72,5km, Greeff of Hollard Ladies was a comfortable winner in one hour, 57 minutes and 41 seconds, with teammate Melissa Hinz following six seconds behind, and Genevieve Weber of Team MS Ladies Racing coming third in 1:57:48.

They were followed by Jean-Marie Mostert of the Team Cymot Ladies Racing and Lelani Swart of Team Hollard Ladies, who both finished in 1:57:49.

Hollard Ladies are now way ahead in the team competition on 67 points, followed by Cymot Ladies Racing on 42 and Mannie’s Bike Mecca Ladies on 37 points.

After the race, Greeff said she was satisfied with her performance.

“I had a very good race – it was a bit boring going round and round on the laps but there’s always a bit of a climb in the race, which was nice and we work together really well as a team,” she said.

“There are a couple of big races coming up now, mostly MTB races. The Otjihavera Experience is coming up, then I’ll do the 947 Ride Joburg and the Desert Dash at the end of the year,” she added.