Bradley Gouveris crosses the line to win the men’s 80km feature race in the Lorraine Cycle Tour, sponsored by African Bank, Mecer and Strada, in Port Elizabeth today. Photo: Fabian Smith
Bradley Gouveris and Anriette Schoeman were crowned champions in the Lorraine Cycle Tour in Port Elizabeth today when they won the men’s and women’s 80km feature races respectively.
The 21-year-old from Gouveris, riding for Action Cycles, regained the title he won in 2017 by shading Warwick Renard in the final sprint, crossing the line in 2:00:10.
Schoeman (Africa Silks-Bestmed) scooped her 19th women’s title in the event sponsored by African Bank, Mecer and Strada, finishing three minutes ahead of her closest rivals.
The men’s podium was completed by Renard (2:00:11) and Ceajay Bosman (2:01:57).
After what he described as a fairly controlled start, Gouveris said he targeted the King of the Mountain at Maitlands and “could see the group breaking up a bit”.
“So I just rolled over the top and got a bit of a gap before Warwick and Ceajay came across to me,” he said.
“In going for the second King of the Mountain I managed to create another gap, but Warwick came back to me with about one and half kilometres to go. At that stage I just trusted my sprint for the finish.”
Anriette Schoeman crosses the line to win the women’s 80km feature race in the Lorraine Cycle Tour, sponsored by African Bank, Mecer and Strada, in Port Elizabeth today. Photo: Fabian Smith
Despite battling with a cold this week, the 42-year-old Schoeman maintained her domination of the women’s race.
She crossed the line in 2:14:07, ahead of Juanita MacKenzie (2:17:01) and Lauren Coleman (2:17:36).
“I haven’t ridden for a week and I always knew it would be difficult to keep up with the guys if they put in a threshold effort,” said Schoeman.
“They went hard up one of the hills and I was too far back, so I then focused on the ladies and joined a second group of males.
“We were only five in the group and were caught by a bunch, which included some of the women.
“We rode consistently until Maitlands when I was able to get away from the other three girls and we rode at a hard tempo from then on.
“It was tough but after the week I had I was just happy to be on the starting line again.”
