THE battle for Namibia’s mountain bike spot at next year’s Olympics is wide open after Tristan de Lange struck back to beat Alex Miller by more than a minute on Saturday.
Miller had beaten De Lange in a sprint finish at the first race of the Nedbank XC Series a fortnight ago, but in the second race on Saturday, De Lange pulled away at the half way stage to eventually win the six-lap race in one hour 32 minutes 15 seconds, with Miller finishing second in 1:33:26.
From the start it was a two-man battle as the next rider in the elite men’s category, Xavier Papo, finished a distant third in 1:50:01.
After the race, De Lange said he gave it everything he got.
“I came into this race with open cards, although it’s only the second race of the season so to say. It was a good battle from the start – I just kept the pace going from the gun and I knew it would take everything I have to win. At the end of the day it paid off and I’m stoked that I redeemed myself from the previous race,” he said.
“I learnt a few things from the previous race and played to my advantages, and made the best of each situation,” he added.
With the National MTB Championships, which will also serve as the main qualifier for the 20121 Olympic Games, now looming this coming weekend, De Lange said he was in confident mood.
“I’m very confident about that, especially because now I have the race pace in the legs and with some more recovery time I hope I’ll be better next weekend.”
Miller said it wasn’t his day.
“It was a hard day out for me, but that’s the name of the game – you win some and you lose some. I’ve had some really good races against Tristan in the past where I beat him, but you can’t win them all and you just get some of those days when you don’t hit it off,” he said.
“My tactics were just to follow him and see what pace he would be setting, but towards the middle laps I could see the legs just weren’t there,” he added.
Despite the defeat, Miller said he was looking forward to next week’s national championships.
“I’m looking forward to it, the battle for the spot for the Olympics has only just begun, and I’m really up for the fight.”
Michelle Vorster, meanwhile, once again dominated the elite women’s category, winning the four-lap race in 1:14:40, with Steffanie Grossmann finishing a distant second in 1:25:42 and Michelle Doman third in 1:26:49.
Bergran Jensen won the junior men’s category over over four laps in 1:07:18, followed by James du Preez (1:24:57), while Monique du Plessis won the junior women’s category over three laps in 1:05:25.
Christo Swartz won the sub-veteran men’s category over four laps in 1:13:44, followed by Ananias Ananias (1:16:14) and Louis Prins (1:17:47), while Benita Kasch won the sub-veteran women’s category over three laps in 1:07:18, followed by Nicola Fester (1:07:52) and Gabriella Raith (1:11:39).
Hans du Toit won the veteran men’s category over four laps in 1:13:30, followed by Greg Chase (1:14:28) and Ian Grassow (1:16:00), while Marion Schonecke won the veteran women’s category over three laps in 1:08:11, followed by Monika Grossmann (1:12:28).
Nick du Plessis won the mater men’s category over three laps in 56:43, with Stefan Bohlke coming second (57:51) and Andrew Chase third (58:55), while Antje Tietz won the master women’s category over twoxx laps in 52:07, beating Mandy Huysamen in a sprint to the line.
Roland Graf won the grand master men’s category over three laps in 38:46, followed by Andreas Brückner (44:49) and Len le Roux (50:08), while Elke Jagau won the grand master women’s category over three laps in 39:57, with Berrit Graf coming second in 46:29.
The complete results are available at raceday.events
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