Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge: Brown claims 2nd Cycle Challenge title

[Matt]

Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge: Brown claims 2nd Cycle Challenge title

Press Release - 20 November 2011

 

Arran Brown (MTN-Qhubeka) claimed his second victory in the Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge when he out-sprinted his teammate Reinardt Janse van Rensburg to win the 15th edition of the massive event in Johannesburg today.

 

Brown won in 2 hours 11 minutes and 47 seconds, leading a field of 25 000 cyclists across the finish line. Janse van Rensburg was second and Tyler Day (Bonitas) third.

 

Brown has been the major protagonist in the Cycle Challenge over the past three years. He won in 2009 and last year he came second.

 

The race boiled down to an immense battle between the teams of MTN-Qhubeka and Bonitas. In a near exact repeat of last year, the race split up at the Nelson Mandela Bridge and soon afterwards a group of eight riders managed to escape.

 

At first it looked like Bonitas had the upper hand with five riders in the move. They were Day, Hanco Kachelhoffer, Johann Rabie, Jason Bakke and South African champion, Darren Lil. MTN-Qhubeka were represented by Brown, Janse van Rensburg and Martin Wesseman.

 

Brown was a worried man as he expected the Bonitas team would give his MTN-Qhubeka team-mates a proper work-over. "To our surprise they didn’t try and attack us. Instead they chose to bank on Tyler's sprinting abilities. That suited us to the tee. That meant I could save myself for the sprint," said Brown.

 

Brown timed his final assault to perfection, accelerating at just the right moment to be the first rider into the last traffic circle. He was followed into the circle by Janse van Rensburg and Day, and that’s the way it stayed to the finish line.

 

Day, who won the Cape Argus Pick n Pay Cycle Tour earlier this year, had no excuses afterwards. "Arran and Reinardt were super strong today and deserved to win," he said.

 

Brown dedicated his victory to his team-mates. "Cycling is a team sport. I won because my team-mates all sacrificed themselves to help me."

 

Nolan Hoffman (Tasol-GT) and Herman Fouché (Cape Town Market) were the day's biggest losers as they missed out on the break. But Fouché admitted afterwards that his presence in the move wouldn’t have affected the end result. "I simply didn’t have the legs today," he said.

 

Hoffman was upset that none of the other riders wanted to work with his Tasol-GT team to chase down the break.

 

"I am amazed at how the riders were content to let them go. I got the idea that 80% of the peloton were just racing to be able to say afterwards that they had managed to finish,” said a disgruntled Hoffman.

 

Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (Nashua-Toyota) won the women's race by out-sprinting Cherise Taylor (USN). Jo van de Winkel (Nashua-Toyota) was third and Lise Olivier (MTN-Qhubeka) fourth. Moolman-Pasio’s winning time was 2 hours 43 minutes and 10 seconds.

 

The quartet raced in front on their own for close to 80 kilometres.

 

Moolman-Pasio didn’t expect to win. "I really suffered for most of the race. Luckily when it mattered I found some strength to contest the sprint."

 

It was only her second appearance in the Cycle Challenge. Last year she finished fifth.

[Delgado]

Nice one Arran!