Philip Buys and Candice Neethling claimed respective victories in the elite men’s and women’s category in the opening round of the Stihl 2015 SA National XCO Cup Series in Port Elizabeth on Saturday February 28.
Philip Buys (Scott Factory Racing powered by LCB) at the opening round of the Stihl 2015 SA National XCO Cup Series in the Baakens Valley in Port Elizabeth on Saturday. Photo: Andre Hugo
Scott Factory Racing p/b LCB’s Buys and Pam Golding/Freewheel Cycology/Specialized’s Neethling were competing for UCI points in the UCI Category 1 event, to up their rankings for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Kargo Pro MTB Team’s Brendon Davids was forced to claim second after he caught up with Buys in the final sprint but couldn’t close the 1.1-second gap just metres to the finish line.
World ranked number nine Emil Lindgren finished in third place 26 seconds off the winning time.
The Elite women’s race saw Neethling take full command on the demanding course, leading from the start on the five-lap race with her closest rival Cherie Vale finishing the race six-and-a-half minutes back.
The Junior Men’s race was a tussle between local rider Kargo Pro MTB Team’s Marco Joubert and Specialized Concept Cyclery’s Julian Jessop.
Joubert won by a large margin of 2 minutes 51 seconds ahead of Namibian Tristan de Lange, while Jessop finished in third place without a saddle.
Genevieve van Coller took the title in the Junior Women’s covering three laps of the 4.7km track ahead of Christine Roda who came in second and Saffron Vosloo who finished third.
The second round of the Stihl 2015 National Cup Series will take place at the Voortrekker Monument in Gauteng on March 28.
Go to SA National XCO Cup Series for more results and photos.
