Rebello turns on the gas to win home trail stage
FORMER junior African crosscountry champion Dylan Rebello showed his continental class on his home trails as he raced to victory in the second stage of the RECM Knysna 200 mountain bike race yesterday.
The 20-year-old’s stage win was a triumph of youth over experience as he outsprinted solo category overall leader Nico Pfitzenmaier, 44, into the finish at Thesen Harbour Town.
The Jeep rider crossed the line in 2:50:52, just two seconds clear of Team Dorma’s Pfitzenmaier, with Jan Hanekom a distant third.
The result was not enough to unseat the Cape Town-based German, who remains first in the general classification with a combined time of 6:16:49.
Rebello, who lost time after an early mechanical upset the previous day, is second overall in 6:32:28 with Hanekom third in 7:03:24.
In the team category, the Altech Autopage duo of Hanco Kachelhoffer and Colin Noel came home in 2:54:01 for their second stage win.
Their total time of 6:23:03 gives them a cushion of more than 45 minutes.
Three-time national marathon champion Robyn de Groot, riding for Ascendis Health, leads the women’s solo race by an increased margin after winning the stage in 3:10:41 (6:56:25).
The 68km stage, which started from Quinta da Monthana near Rheenendal, saw riders ascend over 800m in the first 20km.
The opening stretch quickly warmed up their legs with a testing 2.5km hill climb up to Krisjan se Nek in the Garden Route National Park.
RECM’s African cross-country champion James Reid was first over to scoop the Ultimate King prize, while Yolande de Villiers, of SasolRacing, was Ultimate Queen.
Rebello and Pfitzenmaier were the first solo riders to reach waterpoint one after 23km, with Kachelhoffer and Noel setting the pace in the team section almost two minutes back.
Leaving the second water- point and the Goudveld forest behind, the four came together on the Rheenendal road after Pfitzenmaier suffered a minor mechanical problem.
Knowing what lay ahead, Rebello was first to fly into the single-track alongside Phantom Pass.
“That last section is literally right behind my house, so I just went full gas,” Rebello said.
Pfitzenmaier kept pace on the technical descent while Kachelhoffer and Noel preferred to take a more cautious approach.
“From there Nico and I just put our heads down and worked together and I managed to pull it off at the end,” said Rebello.
Port Elizabeth-based newlyweds Andrea and Steven Shirley notched up another win in the mixed race in 3:23:07 (7:31:45). Their Merrell teammates, Nicola Giliomee and Marleen Lourens, did the double in the women’s category in 3:25:14 (7:36:51).
The three-day mountain bike race wraps up with a 58km stage today. KINGSWOOD College secured an exciting 20-19 win over cross-town rivals St Andrew’s College in a much-anticipated schools rugby clash in Grahamstown at the weekend.
It was Kingswood’s first win over their traditional rivals since 2011 and what made the victory sweeter was that it was played on the St Andrew’s Lower Field.
Kingswood drew first blood with a three-pointer from flyhalf Daine Kruger after the home side conceded a penalty at the breakdown. St Andrew’s fired back after a few passes down the right saw flanker Seb Mulders dive over for an easy score, which flyhalf Anthony Dakin converted.
The Herculean defensive efforts from both sides kept the crowd enthralled.
St Andrew’s got the second half under way with a try under the posts after a successful lineout drive.
This was followed by a break from Kingswood lock Mark Mutuku, who off-loaded in the tackle to Kruger, who sent the ball wide to fullback Athi Halom, who in turn rounded a defender then chipped the ball over the St Andrew’s defensive line to collect and score. Kruger converted.
The away side scored another try in the opposition’s right-hand corner but the conversion was missed.
Another Kingswood try took their lead to six points at 20-14. In the dying minutes, St Andrew’s had two tries disallowed for a forward pass and being held up respectively. St Andrew’s did eventually score after the hooter but the potentially match-winning conversion was missed.