The first event was won by Smith and associates’ / Obike Maties’ top rider, Stefan Ihlenfeldt, who took the final sprint for the finish line. The two sprint points en route were also won by Maties. The second race was unfortunately plagued by flat tires and three of the 5 riders had to abandon the race.
The third event started with an extreme pace with two Maties riders, and a rider for both BF and RSA Web cycling teams accompanying them. By the start of the second lap, however, only the two Maties riders, Alex Heward and Stefan Ihlenfeldt, remained. They soldiered on for the remainder of the race until only two laps were left. The gap between them and the peloton shrunk back to 20 seconds. Howard and Ihlenfeldt then attempted to bridge the gap with Craig Boys (Daigen GU) accompanying them. Unfortunately, one of the Maties riders sustained a flat tire and could not continue the race. Only Chris Cronje from the Maties team could bridge the gap successfully. He gave the two riders at the front the necessary motivational boost and they pushed the gap between them and the main field back up to 2 minutes, sustaining that gap to take the victory.
By: Whitney Prins
Photo: Deon Raath
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