Johannesburg – Former champion Neil MacDonald, riding with new partner Brandon Stewart, notched up his second overall victory in the nine-day Old Mutual joBerg2c mountain bike race in Scottburgh on Saturday.
The FedGroup-Itec duo completed the 910km journey from Heidelberg, in Gauteng, to the KwaZulu-Natal south coast in 34 hours, 11 minutes, 05 seconds (34:11:05), taking four stage wins in the process.
They finished 11 minutes clear of MacDonald’s former teammate, Waylon Woolcock, with whom he won the 2011 event, and Lourens Luus of RE:CM (34:22:21).
Woolcock and Luus, who had been trailing by four-and-a-half minutes at the start of the 86km final stage, suffered mechanical problems that ended their title chances.
Bridge duo Timo Cooper and Nico Pfitzenmaier, who completed the final stage in sixth place in 3:12:29, rounded out the podium with an aggregate time of 35:02:57.
First on the final day was the Contego pairing of Louis-Bresler Knipe and Belgian teammate Kevin van Hoovels, who powered their way along the edge of the Indian Ocean to claim their third stage win in 3:02:09.
They finished a respectable seventh overall in 36:33:50 after dropping out of contention in the earlier stages due to illness.
MacDonald and Stewart finished the ninth stage second in 3:02:44, with Woolcock and Luus following them home in 3:09:37.
“Coming into a new team and getting the results that I have this season, you don’t get that often,” MacDonald said.
“So I’m very happy with the way things have turned out.”
An emotional Stewart said it was one of the biggest wins of his career.
“I don’t think people realise how much you have to fight in your everyday life for this, but I’m very chuffed.”
Two-time women’s champion Ischen Stopforth, riding with former mixed category winner Yolande de Villiers, added another title in 39:12:56. Riding in the colours of joBerg2c, they took their fifth stage win in 3:32:48.
They were followed home by the Burry Stander Foundation team of Cherise Stander and Lise Olivier in 3:49:01 (40:04:46) and USN-bizhub’s Yolandi du Toit and Nicci Grobler in 4:05:00 (40:57:03).
Erik Kleinhans received a fitting birthday present when he and his Swiss wife, Ariane, finished the trek in 36:38:55 to take the mixed category win for a third year in a row. They finished eighth overall. – Sapa