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|  | | Telkom Satellite Challenge |
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| 2009/11/17 - The Telkom Satellite Challenge is as close to a 'mountain top' finish as you can get in Gauteng, and on Saturday, MTN Energade's Kevin Evans made the best use of the situation to win his first road race of the Alpha Pharm Series!
Well, not really a mountain top finish, but the final 20km of the 107km route ascends the famous Hekpoort climb, and this was the spring board for the final attacks. All that was left for the strong hill climbers was to survive the long downhills before the final obstacle, a stiff climb, that ended just less than a kilometer before the finish into the Satellite tracking station. Evans had escaped a small elite group over the top of Hekpoort with Neotel's Johann Rabie, and the two of them worked well until a few meters before the top of the very last climb, when Evans gave everything in an attack that just distanced Rabie enough, so that Evans could get down the little hill and around the corner to win with a second's advantage over the versatile Neotel rider!
Earlier in the day, the racing was fierce, and a lead group escaped containing, Christoff Van Heerden (MTN), Jeremy Maartens (House of Paint), Neil Macdonald (Team Medscheme), Nolan Hoffman (Neotel), Paul van Zweel, (Konica Minolta), Alex Galvin (NDI) and Stefano Moirana. Their lead did not exceed 1m30, with pressure on the front of the bunch from Toyota Supercycling and others. Their lead had grown due to a big crash in the bunch. There was a large water/mud puddle across the road, and riders slipped while negotiating their way through it, causing a mass pile up! It looked like a mountain bike race by the color of some riders returning to the peleton. House of Paint's Richard Baxter had hurt himself and could not continue, while David Maree of Neotel looked like he had had a mud bath, and MTN's Ian Mcleod had to have his shoe taped as the buckle had broken clean off!
Neil Macdonald punctured out of the break while nearing the climb of Hekpoort, and the chasing bunch was too close and he did not have a chance to regain the break before the bunch swallowed him up. The showdown was set for the big climb on the day, and MTN Energade used their team to stretch the bunch at full speed at the base of the hill. The race exploded, and riders went off the back or off the front! Half way up the climb, Ian Mcleod attacked and took Rabie with him. Rabie won the King of the mountain prime, and then Hanco Kachelhoffer managed to bridge the gap with Evans near the top. They got onto the false flat together, but Evans had other ideas and attacked again, only Rabie could follow this time, and the two of them sped towards the finish.
Kachelhoffer's group grew, and they chased down into the valley, but could not get closer than 20 secs from the leaders. More attacking from this chase group on the final hill did not help the chase, and the two front runners stayed clear. Not known as a climber, Arran Brown of Team Medscheme, who is leading the Alpha Pharm Series had had a great climb over Hekpoort to stay in this select group, made sure to win the sprint for third, and gain more points over his sprint rivals in the series, making it a successful day for the Team Medscheme although they only placed third!
Kevin Evans said of his race, "It was an amazing team effort and the boys in yellow worked really well to set this up! This is a race which for a change suits the pure climbers, provided you can stay away to the finish. I was very glad claim my first road win for the season and a great result for our team MTN/Energade! | |
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