Minnaar retains overall lead as local cyclists shine
Greg Minnaar ended in a fine third place in the UCI Downhill World Cup series in Leogang, Austria, on Sunday, holding on to the overall lead in the competition after three legs.
Minnaar, who has a record 20 World Cup wins after his convincing victory in Fort William, Scotland, last Sunday, was 2.864sec behind winner Aaron Gwin of the US and just over a second shy of his Santa Cruz Syndicate teammate, Loris Vergier of France. Minnaar now has 472 points in the sevenevent series, 38 ahead of Gwin and 123 in front of Jack Moir of Australia.
Minnaar’s success was the back end to a successful day for South African cycling.
Louis Meintjes showed strong form on the eighth and final stage of the Criterium du Dauphine, finishing third and leaving some of the big favourites for the Tour de France in his wake.
Meintjes, riding for Team UAE, was 27 seconds behind stage and overall race winner Jacob Fuglsang (Team Astana), a former winner of the Absa Cape Epic. Meintjes was eighth overall in the race, regarded as the traditional warm-up event ahead of the Tour de France.
Sunday’s stage to Plateau de Solaison showed the progression Meintjes has made in the last few years. He was second in the under-25 category at the Dauphine, as he was in the Tour de France, but romped up the final climb ahead of Richard Porte, three-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome and the highly rated Fabio Aru.
South African World Tour Team Dimension Data declared themselves happy with their showing at the Dauphine. While they did not reach the heights of the last two years, sports director Roger Hammond said they were satisfied with the form of their riders.
“We came here with high aspirations particularly in the beginning of the week with Eddy [Boasson Hagen] and then to see where Serge [Pauwels] was climbing-wise before the Tour,” said Hammond.
“Eddy got himself into the right place at the right time, which means the form is good. But as sprints go, a little bit of luck is needed or a full lead-out train and to be realistic that’s not what we came here with.
“The guys came here to build on their form ahead of the Tour and we saw several top 10s and some strong performances.”