Johann Potgieter beat champion Stefan Garlicki in the South African Downhill National Cup Series in Helderberg on Sunday.
The winning time was 2:12.735, followed by Garlicki’s 2:14.391 and Adi van der Merwe’s 2:16.622.
“It was an unbelievable day for me yesterday,” said Potgieter.
Johann Potgieter was over the moon with his win at the first round of the 2017 SA Downhill National Cup Series in Helderberg on Sunday. Photo: Theo Bruwer
“We had the Western Province race the weekend before and obviously Garlicki was on form again, so I knew that I would have to put in 110% to beat him.”
Potgieter paced himself well and preserved as much energy as he could ahead of the final race.
“I gave it 90% in the seeding run and just tried to get the technical bits pinned and not to break myself on the pedalling sections,” he said.
After coming second in the seeding run behind Theo Erlangsen, Potgieter knew that he had to put in a bit extra to win at the end.
In the overall women’s category, Rika Olivier impressed as she powered to victory by 13 seconds over Sabine Thies. Simon Futter, just two seconds behind, grabbed the third spot on the podium.
