Nolan Hoffman of BCX won his third title in the 40th Cape Town Cycle Tour that finished at the Cape Town Stadium after 109km of racing today.
Hoffman stopped the clock in a time of 2:37:30 to beat the Kiwi Sam Gaze, who won the UCI MTB World Cup race in Stellenbosch yesterday, by a whisker. Reynard Butler of ProTouch was third in the same time.
A five-man breakaway featuring Steven van Heerden (BCX), Myles van Musschenbroek (ProTouch), Nicol Carstens (Alfa Bodyworks), Chris Cronje (Alfa Bodyworks) and Craig Boyes (Investec-Songo-Specialized) made the early running.
Team BCX’s Nolan Hoffman wins his third Cape Town Cycle Tour at the Cape Town Stadium today. Photo: Full Stop Communications
They built a lead of around 3:30 heading into the second half of the race.
Van Musschenbroek, who finished second in last year’s Tour of Good Hope, darted clear on the ascent of Chapman’s Peak, but he was joined before the top by Van Heerden and Boyes. On the descent, Cronje also made it back, leaving four at the front heading towards Hout Bay.
Meanwhile, with Team Dimension Data leading the chase, the breakaway’s lead was down to around 1:30 and eventually 45 seconds when they hit the bottom of Suikerbossie.
The race came together in the run-in to the finish.
HB Kruger, who won the 25-mile event at the Paarl Boxing Day track event, tried going solo in the closing kilometres, but was quickly hauled back by the attentive peloton.
“I’m still a bit shocked, amazed, happy and relieved,” said Hoffman.
“The team was incredible. This has been our biggest objective for the year and the boys rode out of their skin today. I’m just really pleased on how everything went on the road.”
