Ryan Gibbons (21) from Randpark Ridge received a memorable coming of age gift after claiming victory in the Powerade Lost City Cycle Classic presented by Bestmed, in Pilanesberg on 15 August.
The Europcar SA rider stayed in the breaks throughout the 115km race and dug deep to take the bunch sprint to the finish at Sun City.
Gibbons crossed the line first in 02:34:27, half a wheel length ahead of runner-up Meron Teshome of the MTN-Qhubeka feeder team, with Abantu’s two-time champion Nolan Hoffman third.
Gibbons explained the win was the icing on the cake of a fantastic week that included his selection for the South Africa U23 team to compete in the road world championships in September.
“It’s been a good three days. At the moment, we’re all on a bit of a high, so it’s going to be hard to try and beat this,” Gibbons said.
He further indicated that conditions for the first of the spring classics had been ideal and that the racing had started at a fast pace, as the large turnout of teams set out to test each other.
Within the first 20km, a break of nine riders – representing Europcar, Abantu, Bonitas, Altech-Autopage, MTN-Qhubeka and Lights by Linea – got away.
“We stayed about a minute ahead of the peloton for 60km,” said Gibbons.
Then, after a brief lull, MTN-Qhubeka’s Nic Dlamini made a daring solo escape with around 30km to go. “We were initially content to let him go but then the gap got to about a minute,” said Gibbons.
He will now step back from the local racing scene as he turns his full attention to preparing for UCI Road World Championships, which takes place in Richmond, USA, at the end of September.
Details: Coetzee Gouws 082 575 7991.
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