NAD Pro’s Nico Bell and Gawie Combrinck extended their lead on general classification in the joBerg2c mountain-bike race when they won stage three today.
After winning stage two on Saturday, the two also took today’s 122km stage from Reitz to Sterkfontein Dam, winning it by a comfortable four minutes.
Insect Science’s Alan Gordon and Timothy Hammond came in second and Declan Sidey and Shaun-Nick Bester of Silverback-Best4Sports-Mad Macs were third.
NAD Pro’s Gawie Combrinck (front) and Nico Bell extended their lead on general classification in the joBerg2c mountain-bike race after stage three today. Photo: Hayden Brown
The leaders now have a seven-minute overall buffer ahead of stage four tomorrow.
“I’m happy with today’s win. It’s always nice to return some investment for our sponsors,” Bell said afterwards.
They had gone ahead after the third water point, with approximately 26km left, he recalled. “That’s when we went hard. We created a gap and extended it as we approached the [dam] wall, with two kilometres left.
“We then just kept it going until the finish. You never know when you may need those extra minutes in a long stage race like this.
“We had no big issues today; we just stuck to our plan and it worked out. The best section was the last 25km. The rest of the route was very grassy and muddy.
“There were also a lot of open roads where the other teams and solo riders could roll through nicely.”
Bell said he was looking forward to taking on single tracks from tomorrow’s stage.
“We are going to start the fun part of the race tomorrow,” he said. “It will be important to be alert at all times, because there will be various obstacles along the way to Emseni Camp,” he said, referring to where the fourth stage finishes.
Combrinck said today’s stage was “long and quite cold”, but he commended Bell for their winning advantage.
“Nico put the hammer down on the long single track heading up Mount Paul and from there we created a gap,” Combrinck said.
“Nico was very strong today and I just hung on over the dam wall. That is where we created our lead.
“Tomorrow [stage four] is one of my favourite stages, so I am definitely looking forward to it.”
View the results here.
