NOLAN Hoffman sprinted his way to his fifth consecutive victory and his seventh overall title at the Tsogo Sun Amashova Durban Classic in a time of 2 hours, 22 minutes and 10 seconds. The ladies race also saw a familiar face take the podium with Carla Oberholzer claiming her second consecutive win in the 106km race, despite some very tough, windy conditions on the ‘road of champions’ route between Pietermaritzburg and Durban.
“It is a proud moment for me going into the history books as having the most Amashova wins under my belt. The Tsogo Sun Amashova has iconic status – it’s a big win and one of the big three on the racing calendar. Really big pressure for our BCX team every year with expectations for us to win this particular race. I was very proud of the team who stepped up and we took the race today by winning from a breakaway,” said Hoffman.
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As the competitive riders battled it out for a place in the top ten, the ‘spirit of shova’ came alive once more with the presence of hundreds of riders competing in the race to support a worthy cause.
Tsogo Sun Amashova Race Director, Annie Batchelder added that overall they were delighted with the race. “This new premier distance expanded the race’s profile and attracted additional overseas riders as well as several new elite riders who ordinarily would not have entered. We’ve had about 11 000 entrants to this year’s race which is similar to last year’s figures and our numbers on the international riders participating has also increased – which is likely related to our association with the Gran Fondo World Tour. This is an area where we’d like to grow the race in the future,” she said.