The sun was just rising over the mountains when racing started in earnest. Category 2 and Category 3/Ladies rolled over the start line and raced towards the first corner of a 12 kilometre triangular circuit. The local Montana High School and Worcester Wheelers supplied the refreshments and support personal for the event which started and finished at the Dasbosch Cellars on the Louwshoek Road.
Category3/Ladies – 72 km
With barely one lap completed a group of four riders slipped away from the bunch. Two riders dropped off the group finding the pace just a bit too hot to handle despite the brisk conditions around the route. None of the clubs which are in a battle for 2nd spot in the inter club competition were able to co-ordinate a concerted effort to bring back Chris Morgan(City CC) and Bjorn Pienaar (Cycle Teknix) and they were able to maintain the lead right up to the finish. The closest the bunch got to bringing them back was 200 metres and then it ‘sat up’ with no-one wanting to close the gap.
Franz Lemmer won the bunch sprint with Chris Morgan in 2nd and Bjorn Pienaar taking the win.
Ladies :
- Maroeskja Matthee (Bestmed)
- Liezel du Preez (Cycle Teknix)
- Nicky Giliomee (ind)
Category 2 – 96 km
Category 2 seemed to take a break from their normally fast pace and they were content to roll around the route and keep the break of about five riders in their sights. The break was brought back with ease and the race wound up for the sprint.
- Reinhardt Marais,(Kinetic)
- Zaheer Harris (Kinetic)
- Oswin Booysen (ind)
Category 1 – 120 kms
Winter is almost upon us but the beautiful Autumn days make racing on the road such a pleasure. Sunny with no wind or rain was the forecast. Last week’s Cat 1 race was aborted which meant the riders were raring to race. After four laps of the 10 lap race the big split came.
The break consisted of 17 riders from Team Alfa Body Works , Team Giant , Lights by Linea , Stellenbosch Pro Cycling and Aurecon. The sponsored teams don’t have it all their own way in the WP League and Bellville CC, Cycle Teknix CC, Velokhaya, UCT and CycleLab were also represented. Rohan du Plooy of Lights by Linea the current overall leader of the points competition didn’t ‘hoek’ the attack and had to be content to sit and watch the gap grow. The bunch was working together like Trojans and it was no surprise when the speedo consistently reached 50kph. The constant high speed eventually told and Lights by Linea teammates James Tennant and Dirkie Nel crossed the line on their own in 1st and 2nd place respectively with Ray Cox – Bellville CC in 3rd just a few metres behind.
All images copyright of WARD Photography/Robert Ward