Mountain biker Nico Bell raced to a convincing victory at the Trailseeker Hazeldean marathon outside Pretoria on Saturday.
Nico Bell is hot on the heels of Philip Buys at the Trailseeker Hazeldean marathon on Saturday. Photo: ZC Marketing Consulting
Bell and his Team NAD colleague Gawie Combrinck, along with Philip Buys (SCOTT LCB Factory Racing), took the lead after the climb, with Buys having to close down a series of attacks by his two rivals.
Eventually Buys took second place, with Combrinck in third.
“The race was quick from the start. We had quite a big bunch in the beginning and on the climb things split up,” said Bell.
“From then on it was a matter of keeping focused and going as fast as possible on what was an interesting route.”
The women’s race saw Samantha Sanders and Theresa Ralph share the pace-setting until the main climb at the 20km mark.
The in-form Sanders powered through the technical sections to take the lead, which she extended to almost six minutes by the finish.
Ralph finished in second, followed by Michelle Benson.
“I came off a second place at the Knynsa Marathon last weekend so I just wanted to capitalise on the work I’ve done over the past week – smash it here today, go hard and see what happens. And it all went to plan,” said Sanders.
Round three of the series takes place on August 27 at Legends MX in Pretoria East.
View more information on the Trailseeker Series Gauteng #2 Legends MX.
