Coetzee, Greeff cap great cycling weekend 

Drikus Coetzee and Anri Greeff capped a great weekend’s cycling by winning the Nedbank Cycle Challenge on Sunday. 

It was the 40th anniversary of the iconic race which saw a fine turnout of about 500 riders participating in perfect weather conditions. 

In the men’s 100km race, Coetzee’s Hollard team mate Theuns van der Westhuizen broke away early, but Coetzee hauled him in and the two gradually increased their lead to finish well ahead of the chasing pack. 

Coetzee went on to take the win in two hours 22 minutes and 29 seconds, finishing just ahead of Van der Westhuizen, while Jacques Hanekom came third just over six minutes behind in 2:28:32. 

It was the second successive year that Coetzee had won the title and afterwards thanked Van der Westhuizen for his support. 

“Theuns had a huge ride today, he was extremely strong. Luckily we are teammates, and I’m also very fortunate to defend the title. I would have loved to have Theuns winning his first title, but I’m sure that will come very soon and you’ll see him on many podiums to come.”

“I was lucky to defend my title, lucky to have a trustworthy teammate in Theuns, and also the rest of the team rode exceptionally well today. We came here with a mission to have as many as possible Hollard riders in the top ten and hopefully it worked out well because last weekend in the Windhoek Pedal Power race we had a clean sweep on the podium,” he added. 

Greeff, by contrast, was a comfortable winner of the elite women’s 100km race in 2:47:24, with the junior South Africdan rider Errin Mackridge coming second in 2:49:30 and Melissa Hinz third in 2:49:32.

Greeff said the conditions were quite tough. 

“It was very tough, it’s quite hot out there and there was a long long section of flat roads which doesn’t suit me very well. So climbing in the beginning was fun, the flat sections afterwards not so much,” she said. 

“This is the first time that I’ve won the Nedbank Challenge – it was quite sad to miss out last year, so it feels good to finally win it,” she added. 

The Nedbank Cycle Challenge followed on the Nedbank XC1 UCI Junior MTB Series which took place at the LJG Trials at Farm Windhoek on Saturday. 

With international UCI points up for grabs, numerous South African cyclists came up to compete and they took the honours in the elite categories. 

Michael Foster won the elite men’s category in 1:22:34, followed by compatriots Ignatius du Preez (1:24:15) and Daniel van der Watt (1:24:22), while Lilian Baber won the elite women’s race in 1:17:49, followed by Namibia’s Greeff (1:18:42) and Monique du Plessis (1:20:02). 

Namibian cyclists, however, took the honours in the junior categories, with Roger Suren winning the men’s title in 1:10:46, followed by South Africa’s Samuel Cleary (1:12:28) and Neil van der Vyver (1:13:14), while Delsia Janse van Vuuren won the women’s category in 59:25, followed by compatriot Rosemarie Thiel (1:02:01) and South Africa’s Errin Mackridge (1:03:29).