South African cycling's stars and personalities gathered last night for the sixth edition of the Go Banking Cyclist of the Year Awards Banquet, and for the first time the top honour in the men's road category was shared between two cyclists.
David George and Robert Hunter were jointly named as South African Cyclist of the Year for 2006. George had his best year in a professional career spanning more than ten years with victory in the Tour de Langkawi, a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games as well as strong rides in some of Europe's toughest events, including an 11th spot overall in the Tour of Bourgos.
Hunter was the right hand man of Floyd Landis during his victory in this year's Tour de France and produced the best ever ride by a South African in a Grand Tour.
The almost 300 guests at the black tie affair at Nedbank's Africa headquarters in Sandton were entertained by hosts Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwin, universally regarded as the voices of cycling in the English speaking world, and the duo certainly didn't disappoint.
In between awarding the accolades they astonished the venerable who's who of the cycling world with their knowledge - not only of international affairs, but also of the South African cycling scene.
They were on the spot with correct pronunciations of so many uniquely South African names and places and Sherwin, who lives in Uganda, showed a very good grasp of what it takes to make a living in Africa. Although born in England, he has been living in Africa for almost ten years now and regards himself as an African!
Proline's Marissa van der Merwe walked away with the top honour among the women's road cyclists for the second consecutive year while talented young Cherise Taylor received the nod for most promising women's road cyclist.
On the mountain-bike scene Greg Minnaar won the award for Overall Mountain-biker of the Year for the fifth consecutive year and is becoming as consistent as winner of the award as he is on the international downhill circuit. Greg has stepped onto the world championship podium in 5 out of the last six years.
Burry Stander received the award for men's cross country rider of the year while Yolanda de Villiers, who won the award for most promising mountain-biker last year, claimed overall honours in the women's cross country category.
On the race front the two events that won awards last year successfully defended their titles in 2006. The Colorpress Crater Cruise won the award for mountain-bike race of the year while the Pick 'n Pay 94.7 Cycle Challenge was announced as road race of the year for the third time.
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