The conditions were good for racing with clear skies and little wind, and with a flat to rolling course, the race was fast. The Category 1 bunch started quickly and repeated attacks from most of the teams kept the pace high. A few small moves rode clear of the bunch but without the right mix of riders they all came back quickly. The bunch was large and twitchy and numerous crashes occurred, luckily none of our team crashed.
After 40kms a break of four riders got away and held a 30 second gap. They stayed away until the hills around the Suikerbossie area where the bunch reeled them in. More attacks ensued and a group of 5 riders rode clear, at speeds well over 50km/h. The group had three MTN Quebeka riders (Christoph Van Heerden, Daryl Impey, Reinhardt Janse Van Rensburg), one DCM rider (Ian Mcleod) and one Bonitas rider (Waylon Woolcock).
The MTN pair of Impey and Van Rensburg gave it their all for their teammate Van Heerden, knowing he packed the best sprint in the group. Their hard work paid off and Christoph Van Heerden defended his title from last year winning the small group sprint in a time of 2:29:37; 8 minutes faster than last years winning time.
The tricky and twisty bunch sprint was won 2 minutes later by Arran Brown, followed by Jacques Fullard and Herman Fouche.
The Vets category was won by Jacques Fullard with Robert Quinn second and Andrew Reeves of Mr Price third.
The vets team rode well and Emile, Sean, Andrew and Mike finished in the front bunch with the same time, Werner came in a few minutes later.
Our team manager Julian followed the race with spare wheels for us but luckily none of us needed them.
By Andrew Reeves
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