A large group of cyclists from eMalahleni took part in the Mpumalanga Championships and the months and months of training paid off.
Many of the cyclists in eMalahleni now hold the title of Mpumalanga Champ.
The various races took place on Saturday, January 22 in Nelspruit.
A moment of silence was held before the race for two cyclists from eMalahleni that were regular cyclists at the Mpumalanga Champs; they were Gert Nienaber who died after a freak accident on Saturday, January 15 and Susan Dannler who was hit by a car and died on Wednesday, January 19.
For the Mpumalanga Championships, there was a road race and a time trial event.
Different age groups started together in a big bunch with a lot of strong riders including Willie Smit and Reinardt Jansen van Rensburg who are both world tour riders in the mix of many strong local riders from eMalahleni to do the 84 km race.
It was a hard race from the word “go” as everyone wanted to be in the breakaway and all the pro teams wanted to be represented in the front.
After about 10km a small group of five riders got away including Damion Gomez who was amongst the five that opened up the gap from the peloton in his age group.
The group was supposed to turn at the top of Spitskop, but none of the cyclists saw the sign which meant that they did an extra 20km.
Luckily all the cyclists followed the same route. The group then worked together in the break and managed to build a six-minute gap from the group behind.
The final 20km cyclists started playing cat and mouse with each other and they tried to ride each other off for the win, but no one managed to do so.
The final 2km was a small drag followed by a circle with loose sand and a sprint to the finish at the Mbombela Stadium.
In Damion’s race, one of the riders got a cramp and two of the cyclists immediately attacked and that is when he followed.
Damion managed to finish in third place overall and was the first Mpumalanga rider which meant that he was the Mpumalanga champ for the year.
“New year and new team. I have signed with ACDC pro cycling team and OTR joining as a sponsor. I was very surprised and delighted to have accomplished this so early in the season. I am looking forward to this year of racing with new opportunities and a new team,” said Damion.
Peet van Wyk came second in the u.17 boys in a time of 02:05:20.
In the men’s u.23 Damion finished in third in a time of 02:31:05 and Adriaan du Plessis finished in 03:19:48.
In the men’s race (30-34) Gert Janse van Rensburg finished in first place in a time of 02:43:49.
In the men’s 35-39 category Wihl Vermaak finished in second place in a time of 02:51:52, closely followed by Marnus Potgieter finishing in third place in a time of 03:03:41, then Gerald Snell in fourth place in a time of 03:10:25 and Gideon Broodryk finished in fifth place in a time of 03:21:46.
In the men’s 45-49 category Andre Potgieter finished in first place in a time of 02:43:49.
Men’s 50-54 category Patrice Gautier finished in first place in a time of 01:50:28 and in the men’s 60-64 category Dan Cronje finished in first place in a time of 01:48:40.
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