Great displays of power riding

BRENDON Davids and Robyn de Groot produced two great displays of power riding in tough, wet, and cold conditions to claim the men’s and women’s titles respectively at the Compendium Sunday Tribune Hill 2 Hill yesterday.

Defending champion Davids held himself back for the first half of the 100km race before powering away from the lead group to ride a timetrial to the finish and claim a comprehensive victory in a time of 3:39:46.

He ended seven minutes up on Travis Walker, with Andrew Hill then HB Kruger and Julian Jessop wrapping up the top five.

In the women’s event, South African champion De Groot was in a class of her own, and powered up the first major climb, Friesland Hill, about 25km into the race, dropping her rivals.

She then had a lonely solo ride for the final 75km to claim a decisive 15-minute win over defending champion Jeannie Dreyer with a time of 4:19:59. Carla van Huyssteen, Hayley Smith and Desirey Verwey wrapped up the podium.

Davids was the dominant force in the nine-rider lead group and when he outsprinted Walker for the first of the StaminoGro King of Hills prime sprints at the top of Friesland Hill, he was always the rider to beat.

He also took the second prime sprint and then, as they approached the final King of the Hills point, attacked to try and make sure of the prize.

He said later he was a bit surprised to get away, and after securing that R2 000 bonus opted to continue riding hard.

The unsponsored rider was able to open a decisive advantage, and although a group of five riders were meant to be working together, the time gaps continued to grow at a surprisingly quick pace – so quick that at one point the race organisers wondered if he had not inadvertently taken a short cut.

By the time he reached Hill ’n Dale water point his lead was four minutes, and only a mechanical problem was going to deny him back-to-back victories.

“The new points system made the race split up a bit more than usual early on,” said Davids after crossing the line. “After I got the first two King of the Hills sprints I opened up the taps really hard on the downhill just before the third one, and nobody followed me and the gap grew.

“I had to dig really deep today … I think I went a bit too early so it was bit solo effort toward the end.”

De Groot claimed the Queen of the Hills titles, while Saturday’s 45km winner of the men’s race, Jedson Tooms was able to sneak into the top thirty and claim a silver medal – enough to give him the Ultimate Back to Back title for combined times from both the 45km and yesterday’s 100km races. Brenda Potts won the women’s Back to Back title.