Gawie Combrinck and Nico Bell were once again on top at the Old Mutual joBerg2C on Tuesday, but they needed a sprint to grab the win in the 122km stage from Winterton to Nottingham Road and that means virtually no change in the overall standings.
After five stages, Team Telkom’s Johann Rabie and Hendrik Kruger, second yesterday, still lead with a small but the significant gap of three minutes and 41 seconds over Tuesday’s winners of Team NAD Pro MTB.
Third-placed Andrew Hill and Tyronne White (Thule PYGA TIB Insurance) were the third team across the line on Tuesday, but gave up four minutes to the top crews. They are now more than 20 minutes behind the leaders with virtually no chance of pulling themselves back into contention unless both leading teams suffer a major disaster.
While the leading men’s teams are maintaining the status quo, the mixed category once again saw a change in standings and for the third day in a row the leaders were forced off the top step of the podium due to misfortune.
On Tuesday the overnight leaders, Grant Usher and Amy McDougall, gave up a massive 17-minute chunk of time to second-placed Catherine Williamson and Johan Labuschagne when Usher’s seat broke and he had to change it at the first water point.
Usher punctured while leading on stage three on Sunday, then Williamson and Labuschagne suffered mechanicals when they were in front on Monday, and on Tuesday the curse struck Usher again.
Second home on Tuesday was Candice Neethling and Darren Lill, but they also punctured which meant they lost the big group both leading mixed teams were riding in at the time and eventually conceded seven minutes over the final 20km.
STAGE RESULTS
Men
1 Nico Bell and Gawie Combrinck (NAD Pro MTB) 3.54.34
2 Johann Rabie and Hendrik Kruger (Team Telkom) 3.54.34
3 Andrew Hill and Tyronne White (Thule PYGA TIB Insurance) 3.58.42
4 Pieter Seyffert and Hanco Kachelhoffer (Altech Karan Beef Pro Cycling) 4.01.19
5 Dalaet Julien and Ischard Frederic (Vojomag Velochannel) 4.03.44
Mixed
1 Johan Labuschagne and Catherine Williamson (The Bicycle Company Mitas) 4.04.15
2 Darren Lill and Candice Neethling (Dorma USN Purefit) 4.11.24
3 Amy Mcdougall and Grant Usher (Valencia Lanham-Love) 4.21.22
4 Sonya Looney and Yuki Ikeda (FreakShow Defeet Topeak Ergon) 4.27.39
5 Peter Vesel and Ivonne Kraft (MDM Team) 4.32.08
Solo
1 Calvin Beneke 3.58.53
2 Charles Mcfall 4.01.24
3 Raf de Bakker 4.03.59
4 Brennan Anderson 4.09.42
5 Marko Frzop 4.10.32
Women
1 Samantha Sanders and Anriette Schoeman (Valencia) 4.44.22.
OVERALL
Men
1 Johann Rabie and Hendrik Kruger (Telkom) 18.59.42
2 Nico Bell and Gawie Combrinck (NAD Pro MTB) 19.03.23
3 Andrew Hill Tyronne White (Thule PYGA TIB Insurance) 19.22.27
4 Pieter Seyffert and Hanco Kachelhoffer (Altech Karan Beef Pro Cycling) 19.28.29
5 Greg Anderson and Deon Kruger (Cyclelab Masters – 1st masters) 20.09.23
Mixed
1 Johan Labuschagne and Catherine Williamson (The Bicycle Company Mitas) 20.08.46
3 Amy Mcdougall and Grant Usher (Valencia Lanham-Love) 20.22.34
2 Darren Lill and Candice Neethling (Dorma USN Purefit) 20.28.54
4 Sonya Looney and Yuki Ikeda (FreakShow Defeet Topeak Ergon) 20.52.03
5 Peter Vesel and Ivonne Kraft (MDM Team) 21.23.51
Solo Men
1 Calvin Beneke 19.35.07
2 Charles Mcfall 19.44.20
3 Marko Frzop 20.08.16
4 Raf de Bakker 20.10.15
5 Michel Robinson 20.14.14
Women
1 Samantha Sanders and Anriette Schoeman (Valencia) 22.27.21 - Independent Media