‘Emotional’ Cycle Tour victory for Le Court

CAPE TOWN Cycle Tour women’s winner Kimberley Le Court has hailed the organisers for giving women an opportunity to have their own race.

Hailing from Mauritius, Le Court won the women’s race followed by Vera Adriana from Namibia and South African Maroesjka Matthee.

Le Court described her victory as an emotional experience.

Experienced track rider Nolan Hoffman opened up his explosive sprint and won the elite men’s group race. Hoffman was closely followed by New Zealander Sam Gaze, who won his first elite UCI Mountain Bike World Cup race on Saturday.

Franschhoek resident Hoffman said he was amazed, relieved and proud of achieving his goal.

Organisers confirmed that two people died in yesterday’s event.

The Cycle Tour marketing, media and sponsorship director David Bellairs said: “The first was an incident just before 9am on the M3 southbound in which a group of 20 cyclists were involved in a pile-up. One cyclist succumbed to the injuries he sustained in this incident. His family has asked that we respect their privacy at this time and we will not be releasing his name.

“In the second incident a male participant succumbed to a suspected heart attack at Smitswinkel Bay at approximately 10.22am. Again we are respecting the family’s wishes and not releasing his name,” said Bellairs.

Yesterday saw the “rerun” of the 40th edition of the world’s largest timed cycle race. More than 30 000 cyclists took on the 109km route.