Vos tames a tough Cycle Challenge
THE FIRST 40km and the last 10km of the tougher route of the Momentum 947 Cycle Challenge could become the place where this race will be lost and won after Dutchwoman Marianne Vos and Namibian Till Drobisch of Namibia took victory yesterday.
Both the men’s and women’s races took off from the gun on the uphill start on a course that saw last year’s final kilometres become the start of the race, with some 700m of climbing in the first 45km alone.
Cherise Stander of RECM, who took a close third behind Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Ashleigh Moolman Pasio, said she had been impressed with how the South Africans had managed to contain Vos, who at just 27 is widely regarded as the best rider of her generation.
“I think we showed what we could do as South Africans. I thought she would ride away sooner and would have a bigger gap, but we rode really well,” said Stander. “We pushed ourselves hard, but we showed that there is a lot of talent in this country.
“It started off fast, lots of moves by the Velolife team. Marianne went to the front more than once and lifted the pace by up to 10km/h. Very tactical. The pace came down at times and with about 20km to go, Vos put in a big attack. We were all on the limit by that time. There were super hard attacks, lots of big accelerations. Vos rode away near the end and managed to open a big gap.”
Drobisch, a 21-year-old from Namibia with a German father, celebrated his last race for the Cycling Centre Africa outfit, which doubles as the feeder team for the MTN Qhubeka, with a win that surprised even him. He had kicked hard in the last 300m, beating Reynard Butler (Abantu) and Herman Fouche (Bonitas).
“I got into a big breakaway in the beginning around 6km from the start. Our leaders weren’t there, they were still in the peloton, so we didn’t want to work too much. We wanted the race to come together so that our leaders had a chance to win. When the gap went up to two minutes, we thought we would have a chance to win.
“Towards the end we had a good gap. I was struggling to hold on each climb, when JC Nel (BMC Westvaal) attacked, I almost got dropped. But then when they sat up again, I slowly brought them back. On the last climb, JC and Morne van Niekerk (Abantu) attacked, I closed the gap, and just caught them as we crested the last hill before the finish.
“A rider went past me, I thought he was going to start sprinting, but he stopped. So, I gave it everything to the finish, because I thought I could get a top three place, but no one came past me. I was really surprised. It’s a good way to end three years with the team.”