BCX’s Nolan Hoffman was happy to win the inaugural 100 Cycle Challenge in Germiston today, a victory he said made up for last week’s Tour Durban where he finished third.
Hoffman came out on top in a mass bunch sprint where he beat ProTouch’s Jayde Julius and Office Gurus’ Ryan Harris into second and third place respectively.
Nolan Hoffman was happy to win the inaugural 100 Cycle Challenge in Germiston today. Photo: Robert Ward
Hoffman, who won the Cape Town Cycle Tour two months ago, said the flat route today was ideal.
“The route outright suited me,” Hoffman told In the Bunch today. “I was super motivated to set things right again. It was frustrating missing out on victory last week. I am very happy.”
Hoffman gave credit to his team as well. “The boys rode hard all day and it is always great to pull off a win when your team is riding so hard on the front.
“Riding for bunch sprints these days is never easy because everyone tends to not want to sprint against me.
“The guys [his team] had to cover all of the attacks. They held their cool and they delivered under pressure.”
Hoffman said the last 800-metre stretch was a slight downhill, which was ideal for him.
“It was a finish for the heavier guys,” he said. “With me weighing 80kg, it definitely played in my favour.
“I am also good at sprints that require power. I was really fast on that downhill. The route was really tailor-made for me.”
It was not all smooth sailing though, as Hoffman said panic crept into the team about halfway through the 100km race.
“Calvin Beneke, Bradley Potgieter and James Fourie got away and really put the team under pressure at that stage.
“They had about 25 seconds on us for almost 40km and we just could not catch them. It looked like our guys began running out of steam.
“But they showed a lot of character and we managed to catch them with about 10km to go. After that, I knew it was game on because I also felt they had spent all their pennies earlier.
“It was then up to Clint [Hendricks] to keep it together for me. It worked out well and I was able to pick the lines I wanted in the last kilometre and I managed to give a good sprint.”
He described the route as “pancake flat”. “The longest hill was just about 300-metres going into the finish.
“Other than that it was just flat. We had an average speed of 46km/h. It was very fast.”
Hoffman will now take a week-long break before he and his team turn their focus on the Polokwane Annual Mayoral Road Cycle Race on May 27.
