The win is just ‘incredible’ for Nolan

NOLAN HOFFMAN (Team BCX) won the Cape Town Cycle Tour in spectacular fashion yesterday, out-sprinting Sam Gaze (Investec-Songo-Specialized) and Reynard Butler (Pro Touch) to win his third title in a time of 2hr 37min 30sec.

Hoffman, and his team rode a textbook bunch sprint, which saw him appearing out of the group in perfect fashion to deny Gaze – who won his first elite UCI Mountain Bike World Cup race the previous day and took the Cape Town Cycle Tour MTB Challenge title the week before – what would’ve been a unique hat-trick.

The race, billed as #40Take2, effectively the second running of the 40th edition after the 2017 event was cancelled due to strong winds – was exciting from the gun.

A group of five riders went up the road shortly after the start. Craig Boyes (Investec-Songo-Specialized), Steven Van Heerden (BCX), Myles Van Musschenbroek (Pro Touch), Nicol Carstens (Alfa Bodyworks/Giant) and Chris Cronje (Alfa Bodyworks/Giant) worked well together and built up a gap that stretched up to three minutes at one stage. The five managed to stay away for the majority of the race and were reeled in only up the Suikerbossie climb, after a strong effort spearheaded by Dimension Data for Qhubeka’s Continental outfit who had missed out on the break.

“The team was incredible today,” Hoffman commented after the finish. “This has been our biggest objective for the year and going away with the win was just incredible. The boys rode out of their skins and I’m just really pleased how it all played out.”

“We played a poker face game. We had Steven van Heerden in the break, so we knew we didn’t have to work too hard in the bunch.”

The women’s race saw a pioneering first when they started in Glencairn to have 76 kilometre race. This ensured a clear run all the way to the finish and it was epic.

In the end, Kim le Court (Demacon) took the bunch sprint ahead of Namibia’s Vera Adrian (DormaKaba) and track star Maroesjka Matthee (Ciovita).

“Wow, such an emotional day,” Le Court, who hails from Mauritius said after the finish. “This is the one race that everyone wants to win, I’ve had a year of podiums and it’s great to finally stand on the top step.”