Robert Hobson and Rossouw Bekker took an unexpected win on stage one of the Sanlam MTB Invitational in Paarl today.
“Both of us have taken a bit of time off the bike, because I was writing exams and Rossouw was busy with matric finals, so we didn’t know what to expect going into this race,” said Hobson.
The Flandria pair, who were new to the event, said that their strategy was to test the field and see which teams showed strength.
Flandria’s Robert Hobson and Rossouw Bekker claimed victory on stage one of the Sanlam MTB Invitational in Paarl today. Photo: Robert Ward
“Ellsworth ASG’s Pieter Seyffert and Hanco Kachelhoffer were our main competition of the day. We rode comfortably with them from the 30km mark and when we hit the 20km spot we dropped them. Then it was just Rossouw and I all the way to the finish,” said Hobson.
The Stellenbosch local, who won the Karoo to Coast and Ride2Nowhere three-day mountain bike race in September, said that it was a nice feeling to have taken the stage win.
“We didn’t really know what to expect and it was quite awesome to see that we still have a bit of form in our legs. It’s quite nice to know that we can still pull off a win,” said Hobson.
He added that Bekker would be able to give it his all in tomorrow’s shorter stage, as he was a strong cross-country rider.
“We knew that if we had a bad bump today, we would just go flat out tomorrow. We have a bit more comfort now knowing that it is not going to be as demanding as we thought,” said Hobson.
Bekker added that it would be nice to secure the overall title tomorrow.
“We will take it as it comes. Hopefully, we will be strong enough and fully recovered to make it happen,” he said.
The women’s race was won by Pace of Mind’s Halcyone Muller and Heidi Nieuwoudt, while Killi Climbers’ Mia and David De Villiers won the mixed category.
