The crisp morning air of the Pilanesberg was set alight on Saturday with a field of 5000 participants blazing around the flat and fast course in the 9th edition of the PowerAde Cansa Lost City Classic. The main titles were claimed by Nic White from Microsoft and Carla Rabie from Cyclelab.
White made this his second victory in two weeks by denying the sprinters their famous sprint finish this route is renowned for. Juan van Heerden (Colorpress Cyclingnews) commented afterwards: “Sixty kilometers into the race we established break-away group with ten riders, with quite a few sprinters, but Nic jumped us with one kilometer to go.
“It was a catch22 for us. The guy who would initiate the chase to bring him back would be the guy who has nothing left for the dash to the line, but if nobody initiated we all lose anyway. And that’s the way it turned out.”
White, quite surprised to have won this renowned sprinter’s race commented: “Our team had the numbers in the final move and couldn’t just let it go to the line. I’m happy with my result, but the most important thing today was a win for the team.”
The race-winning move came after sixty kilometers when eleven riders managed to get clear, including race favourites Malcolm Lange (Microsoft), Juan van Heerden (Colorpress Cyclingnews), Jay Thompson (Dimension Data) and Nolan Hoffman (Exel).
The two coastal teams who had made the journey (Sharks Cycling and CSC CVT) had to return disappointed after finding the going a bit tough. Team CSC and the Sharks lined the start line with high expectations but were forced to play second fiddle by some impressive riding from the local professionals.
Carla Rabie, the defending champion in the ladies category, managed to fend off Ronel van Wyk (Bionic) to claim her second consecutive win.
The participation of the Chiawelo Cyclingnews Development club youngsters in the 70km event generated a lot of interest. This group of Sowetan youngsters decided to take part in preparation for the Powerade Dome2Dome whose organisers recently named them as official beneficiary of the event.
The eleven kids that took part are the result of the development initiative supported by the National Federation, the Lottery, Colorpress and Cyclingnews, and is driven by National Manager Tony Harding.
The success of the program is evident in the fact that this grass root development initiative is already delivering kids who can start competing in races.
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