Cian sprints to victory at Drak Extravaganza

CIAN Leveridge learned from a tactical error a year ago and spoiled a perfect holiday for Andrew Hill when the youngster sprinted to victory in the cycling road race at the Drakensberg Extravaganza on Sunday, 22 November.

Leveridge got the better of Hill in the final sprint for the finish arch in Bergville after 84km of tough racing in intense heat.

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In the women’s race defending champion, Frances Janse van Rensburg, submitted a late entry and gave Team Absolute Motion a win in both gender classes.

In 2018 Leveridge finished third at the same race when he tried to set up teammate. Bevan Reddy. for the victory, but the plan backfired when Travis Stedman slipped through on the final turn and claimed the win.

This year there was no repeat and the U23 rider had far too much of a finish kick for his sub-veteran rival and Hill (TIB Insurance) said after the finish that he knew once Leveridge had come out the final turn in front, he was never going to be able to blast past his young opponent.

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Second place meant Hill was not quite able to celebrate a perfect weekend in the Berg after he claimed an easy victory in the Drakensberg Extravaganza mountain bike race at Champagne Sports Resort on Saturday.

In Sunday’s road race Hill and Leveridge were all that was left of a lead group that established itself on the first decent climb of the race, about 22km after the start.

Leveridge must have felt outnumbered as he was the only ‘roadie’ in the group which was made up of three riders better known for their mountain biking skills; Hill, Tyronne White, and Willie van Eck and wily veteran triathlete, Donovan van Gelder.

White was the first to fall away from contention when he punctured just after halfway and the other four stuck together until the final climb 15km from the finish. Van Gelder and Van Eck could not hold the pace on the three-kilometre ascent and left Hill and Leveridge to fight for the win with the finish sprint.

Van Gelder dropped Van Eck over the final kilometres to grab third.

“Last year we got it a bit wrong with Travis and messed up the finish so this year I had to get some redemption,” said a happy Leveridge after claiming the win.

“Andrew made it a really tough fight on the climb with about 10 kilometres to go.

“I knew I had to stick with Andrew on that last climb and then after that, on the run in to the finish, it became a bit of a game of cat and mouse. From last year I knew that if I got to the last 90-degree corner first, then I should have it and so I made sure I went into there ahead of Andrew.”

“It is really cool to mix it up with the roadies for a change,” said Hill. “Obviously not a lot of the really top guys riding this weekend but good to see the youngsters out here so we can see the depth of KZN cycling.

“I think there needs to be a lot more events like this. It was well organised, the course was great, the local community was out and it was a pleasure to ride.”