This weekend I did not need to travel far for racing. I have done this race in Durbanville every year when I have been here in South Africa and I enjoy the race. The route was changed this year to a more hilly and challenging finish. The race was 108km and with only 6km to the finish we had 2 very steep hills to conquer. On the start line was The Bizhub team with 5 girls, Cycle lab with 2 girls and me as professionals and some good local girls. We started together with vets 40+ men and after getting out of Durbanville the attacks started. A group with 5 men got away and after that the pace went down even though we could see them almost all the time, so we were not far behind. I felt fine during the whole race and when one guy bridged over I regretted that I did not go with him.
When we came to the 18% gradient Visseshoek hill approaching the last kilometres of the race, me, Ashleigh and Anriette put the hammer down and left the Bizhub team together with the rest of the men behind us. I tried to put pressure on the other girls and maybe I did it a bit too much because I could not respond when they kicked close to the top. I tried to chase on the way down but could not close on the 2km downhill. The finish was at the top of a 1.2km steep hill and starting the hill a bit behind I could not get back to the girls. Ashleigh won 15 seconds a head of Anriette and I came in another 23 seconds later. I am happy with the race after another podium position!
Read the article on
supercycling.co.za
procycling.co.za
Results:
1 Ashleigh Moolman Pasio (Biogen Toyota, RSA) 2hr54min53sec
2 Anriette Schoeman (Biogen Toyota, RSA) 2:55:08
3 Jenny Stenerhag (Alpha Pharm, SWE) 2:55:31
4 Yolandi du Toit (Bizhub, RSA) 2:55:52
5 Lise Olivier (Natro, RSA) 2:56:21
6 Catherine Williamson (Bizhub, ENG) 2:56:21
7 Jade Roberts(Bizhub, RSA) 2:56:43
8 Jennifer Hohl (Bizhub, SUI) 2:57:02
9 Heletjie van Staden (RSA) 2:58:28
10 Mary Haw (RSA) 2:59:20
This week I have 2 races coming up. On Thursday I fly up to Johannesburg to take part in the South African Championship in Klerksdorp on Friday. I am looking forward to that, the 4 pro-teams will be there with full teams and we will be 10 foreigners on the start line, so it should be a hard and interesting race. I will then stay in Johannesburg to take part in the “Ride for sight” race on Sunday.
målgång
waiting for prize giving, me, Marius and Tania
The podium: Anriette, Ashleigh and me