NanoTime’s Nico Bell, seen here pulling the bunch in a race earlier this season, won the 70km men’s race at the Trailseeker Series event in Cullinan today. Photo: Supplied
The experienced Nico Bell positioned his bike in the right place in the final corner to set up his victory in the 70km men’s race at the Trailseeker Series event at Cullinan, Gauteng, today.
Bell (NanoTime) was part of a leading group of three riders which formed around three kilometres from the finish and was the first to cross the line after a tactical sprint in which he got the better of privateer Jan Withaar and Shaun-Nick Bester (Darkhorse Wheels).
Philip Buys (Pyga-Euro Steel) and Bell’s teammate, Wessel Botha, completed the top five.
“With 20km to go, I was still around one minute behind a leading group of three riders which consisted of Philip, Jan and Nico and about 30 seconds behind the second group that consisted of Pieter [du Toit], Wessel [Botha], Alan [Gordon], Arno [du Toit] and one other rider,” Bester explained after the finish.
“We hit a long section of tar road. I was off the back a little bit and decided it is now or never – I had to try and close the gap.
“I rode at about 55km/h on that five-kilometre stretch of tar and caught the group in front of me.
“As we hit the next section of gravel, I went to the front and kept the pressure on until we hit another short, steep rocky climb, where I managed to drop everyone except Wessel, who managed to stick with me.
By this time, Bester and Botha had closed the gap to the front three to about 30 seconds.
“I kept the pressure on and managed to ride back to the front group with about eight kilometres to go, which made it a group of five in the lead.
“Then, with around five kilometres to go, there was a sandy patch where Jan and myself managed to create a gap. We worked together, but Nico caught us about two kilometres later, which left three of us in the front with about three kilometres to go.
“Two kilometres from the finish there was a small hill just before we hit the last section of tar that led to the finish. I thought that this was a great place for me to attack to try and take the win, but the climb ended up being just too short to distance the others.
Heading into the final kilometre, Bester said they raced flat out for the last left-hand turn on the tar road that led into the finish.
“We knew whoever went through there first would win the race.
“As we entered the turn, we actually touched each other in our efforts to try and get to the leading position and almost crashed. I braked a little bit more than Nico and Jan with Nico exiting the corner first to take the win.”
Fresh from her fourth-place finish at last weekend’s UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Champs in Turkey, Robyn de Groot wasted no time to claim her first victory back on South African soil.
The dormakaba rider crossed the line ahead of teammate Amy McDougall with Theresa Ralph (Galileo Risk-Infiniti), the winner at Sondela, third.
Sarah Hill (Galileo Risk-Infiniti) and Kim le Court (Demacon) were fourth and fifth respectively.
