Improvisation from Brendon Davids paid off as the former mountain biker soloed to victory at the 30th Knysna Cycle Tour today.
The four-man contingent of RoadCover men set out from the Knysna Oyster Festival Grounds with the plan to send Bradley Potgieter up the road for Davids to follow, but when the latter broke away at the halfway mark, he decided to go it alone for the remaining 50km.
“We had decided to have Brad up the road for when I attacked and rode over to him,” said Davids.
Brendon Davids is the new Knysna Cycle Tour champion as he won the 115km race by two minutes today. Photo: Anthony Grote
“I was supposed to make my break on the very last climb, but when once I was alone I decided to keep at it and make the most of the opportunity I had.”
Potgieter went up the road around the halfway mark and Davids soon bridged the gap to his teammate, followed by BCX’s Steven van Heerden.
With 55km to go, Davids broke away and faced the remaining 55km on his own.
The 23-year-old slowly gathered momentum and increased his lead with every kilometre.
“I hit the final climb with a 40 second gap, which I stretched out to 1:40 as I went. By the time I reached the finish I think I had almost two minutes.”
Davids said the team had worked perfectly together and he was happy to deliver a result.
“It’s quite special to have a race entrusted to you and I’m happy to repay everyone’s hard work with a win today.”
He finished the 115km route in 2:45:30, two minutes ahead of Reynard Butler and Thando Zothe.
“We’re all doing well at the moment, we’re in a good head space and enjoying racing with each other. Going forward we’ll focus on the Jock Classic next weekend.”
Brendon Davids and Carmen Buchacher were the winners of the Knysna Cycle Tour Road Race today. Photo: Supplied
In the women’s race, Carmen Buchacher added to her success of the weekend as she made her mark in the road after finishing fourth yesterday.
She narrowly beat Candice Lill and Anriette Schoeman as she finished in a time of 2:55:46.
After having taken some time off from the road bike, Buchacher said it had felt good to return.
“I haven’t been on a road bike for about 8 or 9 weeks so it did feel a bit dodgy – but I’m obviously very happy,” said last year’s runner-up.
“I always love being here for the Oyster Festival. I always do the mountain bike race first on the Saturday but yesterday I didn’t have the best legs and was only placed fourth so I think this made up for it today.”
