Atholl resident takes surprise Sondela win

Atholl resident Greig Knox, who was a late entrant, surprised even himself when he outlasted his competition to win the Bestmed Sondela Mountain Bike Classic near Bela-Bela in Limpopo.

The 27-year-old UCT Private Client Holdings rider who grew up in Underberg in KwaZulu-Natal, pulled away in the last 5km of the 60km feature race to win in 2:18:34. He was followed home by Ryno Smith in 2:19:30, with Francois van Tonder third in 2:26:13.

Knox, who entered the feature event at the last moment, said afterwards he was ecstatic at finishing on top of the podium. “I have not been doing much training lately because I have had heavy work commitments, so this win does come as a real surprise.”

It was his first appearance in the race and he said he found the course fairly flat which made it tougher than expected. “We went out quite hard to try to create a split because the route was pretty flat and there was quite a big bunch,” he said.

“Eight of us broke away after about 20km and then we went into a single track section. I worked hard there, and then there were only two of us left at the front [Knox and Smith] and from there we rode up a nice gap on the rest until I managed to get ahead.

“[The race had] some awesome single tracks out there and I really enjoyed the experience. And of course, I’m very happy and surprised with the win.”