Reynard Butler won his first title in the Bestmed Emperors Classic road race by outsprinting the pack in the final dash for the line Kempton Park, Johannesburg, today.
The 29-year-old ProTouch rider from Roodepoort said his victory was a reward for the efforts of his team who worked hard to deliver him to the podium.
Butler, who won the Ride for Sight and Berge en Dale earlier this year, crossed the line in 2:07:54, ahead of Office Guru’s Ryan Harris and BCX’s Clint Hendricks.
ProTouch’s Reynard Butler crosses the line to win his first title in the Bestmed Emperors Palace Classic 98km feature race in Kempton Park in Johannesburg today. Photo: Jetline Action Photo
A little concerned about his conditioning after a short break, Butler said his adrenalin overcame that as he sprinted for the finish.
“In the final moments, your brain switches off and you go into tunnel vision as you focus only on the finishing line,” he said.
“In the end, my legs were strong enough and going into the final stretch it boils down to a case of positioning and then executing your sprint to the best of your ability.”
Earlier, after the team had controlled the early part of the race, Butler said three riders broke away with about 20km to go.
“We put a few guys on the front to try to bring them back and BCX also took up the initiative. The peloton were all back together with about 5km to go.”
Cape Town Cycle Tour champion Kim le Court maintained her form to land her second successive title in the feature race.
Kim le Court of Demacon Women’s Team wins her second successive title in the Bestmed Emperors Palace Classic 98km feature race in Kempton Park in Johannesburg today. Photo: Jetline Action Photo
The Mauritian crossed the line in 2:36:46 to hold off Demacon teammate Lynette Burger and Sanet Coetzee (Clover).
In the final sprint, Tiffany Keep actually crossed the line in second place but as she was competing in the junior women’s category, she did not qualify for the Elite division.
Le Court, who leaves for the Commonwealth Games in Australia on Friday, said her confidence had been boosted by her Cycle Tour victory.
She added that their commitment as a team to produce the best results had induced a sense of calm in her riding.
“This win is very special for the team because we have the goal of winning all the races we enter and so far it is six out of six in one-day events this year.”
Team captain Burger won the Fast One in January while Oberholzer took the Ride for Sight, Berge en Dale and national road champs titles.
Yesterday, Hennie van Wyk won the 44km Bestmed Emperors Palace MTB Classic men’s race ahead of Alex Pavlov and Bradley Potgieter with Chloe Gardner taking the women’s event ahead of Michaele Cooper and Faye Darby.
Aaron Heyneke and Amy Green took the respective honours in the 24km race.
