Team Telkom’s Nolan Hoffman timed his charge to perfection as he took the honours in a tight finish in the Bestmed Cycle4Cansa Road Classic at Sun City today.
The 31-year-old professional from the West Rand in Johannesburg edged ahead in the last 80 metres to outsprint Team Luso’s Calvin Beneke and RoadCover’s Bradley Potgieter for the line in a time of 2:18:13.
Team Telkom’s Nolan Hoffman (right) and Bradley Potgieter were in the leading trio in the Bestmed Cycle4Cansa Classic Road Classic at Sun City today. In an exciting sprint finish Hoffman took the top spot and Potgieter finished third, while Calvin Beneke was second. Photo: The Citizen
The former Franschhoek resident said the victory had been set up by a small breakaway group in the early stages of the 103km feature race in which all the pro teams were represented.
“The racing in the first 10km was pretty aggressive and the breakaway group formed about five kilometres later,” said Hoffman.
“Within about 10km the gap went out to three minutes and then to seven. Once we got that lead the guys in the big group behind sort of gave up.”
Hoffman said he knew how important the timing was in the finish to a fast race.
“I knew I had to wait to take the sprint as late as possible. I think Bradley got a bit nervous and he jumped first with about 250 metres to go.
“I got on to his wheel and with about 80 metres to go I jumped past him to take the win.”
The former Cape Town Cycle Tour champion said he was “really happy” with the outcome as the Sun City race was one of his favourite events.
“It puts the confidence up and I’m so happy for the team. The boys rode perfectly and it’s always nice to reward them with a win.”
Charlene du Preez of Team Clover Prestigio took the women’s honours with a powerful final burst to the line.
Alex Pavlov took the honours in the 50km Bestmed Cycle4Cansa 50km MTB Classic at Sun City on Saturday. Photo: Full Stop Communications
The 28-year-old from Pretoria East crossed the line in 2:46:24 to finish ahead of Time Freight’s Kim le Court, who won the 50km MTB Classic on Saturday, and Pretoria Box’s Michelle Benson.
“I was very happy with the win,” said Du Preez. “The race was quite flat so that made it difficult for anyone to get away.
She said there were several attacks towards the end and it was matter of keeping in touch and trying to save the legs for the final sprint.
“That worked out well for me.”
Alex Pavlov of NorthCliff Cycles, who will be competing in the UCI Gran Fondo World Championships in Perth, Australia, in early September, won the men’s section of Saturday’s 50km MTB Classic.
“This is a race I really like because it suits the roadies and I’ve got a road background,” he said after posting a time of 1:45:10.
“I have been training quite hard for the world championships and I had good form going into the race. I felt good today.”
View the Cycle4Cansa Road Classic results and Cycle4Cansa MTB Classic results.
