The team lined up for the last road race of 2016 with the goal of taking Bernard Esterhuizen to the finish for a sprint.
Photo credit: Sam Clark on behalf of the Cape Town Cycle Tour Trust.
The race start very aggressively up Hellshogte pass with bunch being whittled away due to the fast pace. All of our riders made it over the pass safely and David Garret made a move off the front with 5 other riders. The peloton kept the pace high through to Paarl and the small group was caught.
Photo credit: Sam Clark on behalf of the Cape Town Cycle Tour Trust.
For the next few kilometers, the bunch sat up with most of the teams preparing for the final assault back into Stellenbosch with the last few climbs in the last 10km being very decisive. A few crashes in the bunch made the race very challenging. Bernard got caught behind a crash with 7km to go and just before the final steep climb. Tim Jenkinson then brought Bernard back into contention with a massive pull on the descent to get our sprinter ready for finish. Another 2 crashes in the final 2km put Bernard further back in the bunch and he managed to get back to the front with 500m to go. He launched his sprint with 200m to go to take the win.
Photo credit: Sam Clark on behalf of the Cape Town Cycle Tour Trust.
With the road season being over for the year, there are still 2 more track races left with SA Madison champs on the 17th and boxing day on the 26th of December.
Photo credit: Sam Clark on behalf of the Cape Town Cycle Tour Trust.
