GEORE NEWS - A consistent tail wind, smooth road conditions and a searing ride by the DSV Pro Cycling team Gert Heyns and Arno du Toit ensured records tumbled at the 2018 Trans Baviaans Race.
Despite an unfortunate detour, this fifteenth edition of what is arguably the toughest team single-stage MTB race in the world, ended on a happy note for Georgean Heyns and his team mate, Du Toit, when they were placed joint winners together with Insect Science/Garmin's Timothy Hammond and Ben Melt Swanepoel.
There was drama in the men's race, outright dominance in the women's and a legacy-sealing victory in the mixed as the racing categories were wrapped up within nine hours of the event's start. Never have so many records been set in one event. The new men's course record is all the more remarkable, given the teams setting it had made a wrong turn.
The race, which started in Willowmore on Saturday morning, was agitated from the off by the DSV Pro Cycling team Heyns and Du Toit.
"Nobody really thought it was possible to go from the gun, so we kind of wanted to prove them wrong," Du Toit explained.
The initial attack by DSV was followed by the Honingcraft Five duo, Dirkus Coetzee and Alwyn Steenkamp.
Behind, Insect Science/Garmin's Timothy Hammond and Ben Melt Swanepoel worked with William Simpson Cars' Mike Posthumus and Derrin Smith to ensure the gap between the leaders and the chasing peloton remained at one minute.
For the non-elite riders, riding into the night in the depth of the Baviaanskloof Mega Reserve, where light pollution is non-existent, is one of the highlights of the Trans Baviaans. Photo: Jacques MaraisHeading into the Baviaanskloof Reserve, a puncture for Steenkamp cost Honingcraft Five the chance to contend for victory.
The leading three teams were separated by just four minutes heading into the decisive final 30 kilometres.
Disaster struck for all three the leading teams just after the final checkpoint when they were diverted from the unmarked Trans Baviaans route onto a permanently marked route in the Zuurbron Bike Park. Hammond and Swanepoel were first to realise that they were off the route and back-tracked, managing to maintain their position ahead of Posthumus and Smith. Heyns and Du Toit, however, were not as fortunate and ended up losing their lead.
Given the nature of the obstruction and the time losses all the teams suffered, the race commissaire adjudged the obstruction in the route to have hindered riders' ability to determine the correct route and thus awarded the victory jointly to DSV Pro Cycling and Insect Science/Garmin.
The unfortunate outcome should not detract from the amazing rides both teams put in, however.
"Heyns and Du Toit went from the start. It was an incredibly brave ride, I've never seen anyone go from the start like that," Hammond praised his rivals, upon crossing the finish line first.
The Insect Science/Garmin combination's ride was likewise one for the history books; as they kept DSV in sight from the Fangs to the turn-off to checkpoint seven.
Georgean Gert Heyns (in front) and Arno du Toit spent nearly 200km in the lead of the Trans Baviaans Race, after a brave attack in the opening kilometres. Photo: Jacques Marais.
Hammond was the reigning course record holder for the route which finishes at the Fountains Mall, but he and Swanepoel smashed over twenty-five minutes off that time. The pair stopped the clock in an astonishing time of seven hours, fifty-one minutes and six seconds - a time which was retrospectively also awarded to Heyns and Du Toit. The third placed team of Posthumus and Smith crossed the line shortly after Heyns and Du Toit, having gallantly declined to contest the sprint - given their rivals' loss of time in the confusion after checkpoint seven.
The William Simpson Cars' riders still managed to beat the sun too, breaking the eight-hour mark by three minutes.
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