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Nedbank cycling series off to a competitive start 

lex Miller (right) beats Drikus Coetzee in a sprint to the line, followed by Christiaan van Rensburg and Justus Beulker. Photo: Helge Schütz

The first leg of the Nedbank Windhoek Pedal Power Series got off to a competitive start yesterday morning with the elite men and women’s races, as well as the team events all being closely contested. 

Alex Miller of Team SWATT – King Price won the Elite Men’s race after beating Drikus Coetzee (Team Hollard Elite) and Justus Beulker (Team MBM) in a sprint to the line, with all three cyclists covering the 100km course consisting of five 20km loops on the Windhoek-Okahandja Road in two hours 24 minutes 39 seconds. 

Christiaan van Rensburg of the Cymot Men’s Racing Team came fourth in the same time, while Murray Koch of Cymot led the peleton home more than five minutes behind.

The junior riders, Marco Thiel of Cymot and Theuns van der Westhuizen of Hollard Elite, as well as u23 rider Adrian Key of Hollard Elite led the early attacks, but Van der Westhuizen’s hopes suffered a setback when he touched handlebars with another rider and came crashing down just before the first hotspot. 

Luckily Van der Westhuizen didn’t suffer much damage and soon rejoined the race, but despite battling on bravely on his own, he eventually finished 19th, more than six minutes behind the winners. 

Thiel went on to win the first hotspot on the second lap, followed by Horst Neumann of Team Hollard Ambassadors and Key, while Miller won the second hotspot on the fourth lap, followed by Beulker, Van Rensburg and Coetzee. By then they were already more than three minutes ahead and pulled further away to eventually finish well clear of the peloton. 

Miller expressed satisfaction with his performance after the race. 

“It’s the first race of the season for me, so it’s just nice to be able to get some racing intensity in, at the beginning of the year. I’ll be joining a new team in Europe, so I might not be here quite as much this year. I’m hoping to move over to Europe towards the end of February, but I will still be here for the national championships,” he said. 

“It’s always nice to start the season off with a win here at the local races and I’m feeling good,” he added, saying that he received some stiff competition. 

“It’s always nice to push myself against guys like Drikus. He’s a phenomenal ultra-long distance athlete, but he always surprises me in the road races, so it’s nice to test the legs a bit.”

Miller didn’t reveal much about his new team. 

“I’m not going to say the name yet – I’m still waiting to get the bikes and all the equipment, but it’s an Italian-based team. We’re going to be focussing mainly on gravel bike races, so I’ll be doing the UCI Gravel World Series and series’ like the Gravel Earth,” he said. 

The Men’s Team category, meanwhile, was closely contested with barely 30 seconds separating the top three teams. Cymot Men’s Racing Team finished first in an overall time of 7:25:36, followed by Team MBM Men (7:25:52) and Hollard Elite (7:26:06), while all three teams are now joint-first on 20 points each in the team series. 

The women’s first three cyclists, Anri Greeff, Louise Breed and Olivia Shililifa. Photo: Helge Schütz

There was a major surprise in the Elite Women’s race when a newcomer to competitive cycling, Louise Breed of Team Hollard Ladies won the final sprint, beating team mate Anri Greeff and Olivia Shililifa of Cymot Ladies Racing Team to the line. 

All three covered the 80km four-lap race in 2:26:01, with the junior cyclist Delsia Janse van Vuuren of Mannie’s Bike Mecca coming fourth and Michelle Doman of Food Lovers Market Ladies fifth, in the same time. 

They were closely followed by Rosemarie Thiel of Cymot Ladies, Maja Brinkmann (Mannie’s Bike Mecca), Jean Marie Mostert (Cymot Ladies) and Marissa Mouton (Food Lovers Market Ladies) who all followed a second behind. 

It was an amazing performance by Breed, considering that she only recently started cycling.

“I’m originally a runner and I competed in some running races, but I only started cycling about seven months ago, so I’m completely new to the whole cycling world. It was my first road race, but it was fun, I enjoyed it a lot and I must say I didn’t think that I would win today,” she said. 

The Women’s Team category was incredibly close with only one second separating the first four teams. Team Hollard Ladies finished first in 7:18:07, followed by Food Lovers Market, Cymot Ladies and Mannie’s Bike Mecca Ladies, while Hollard Ladies took the lead in the series with 15 points, folowed by Food Lovers Market and Cymot Ladies on nine points each, Mannie’s Bike Mecca on seven and MSL Ladies Race Team on six points. 

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