Perry takes win in Emperors Classic

Former national time-trial champion, James Perry, showed his flair when he launched a solo attack with kilometres to go to take an unchallenged victory at the Emperors Palace Classic in Johannesburg on Sunday, April 13.

The 34-year-old Team Abantu rider claimed his maiden win in the 102 kilometre feature race in 2:17:55.

Mr Calvin Beneke, from Team EuropcarSA and defending champion David Maree from Team Abantu, finished more than 30 seconds behind in second and third place respectively.

Mr Perry said the race started at a furious pace, with Team Abantu putting two of its riders Mr Reynard Butler and Mr Myles van Musschenbroek into the first break of the day.

“This put Team Bonitas under pressure and we let them chase for about 50 kilometres. I noticed they were starting to tire just before the break so I told my team to start the attack,” he said.

This resulted in a group of about 15 riders going clear with about 30 kilometres to go.

“Just before we caught the leading riders with about 12 kilometres to go, I launched my final attack and nobody was able to follow me,” said Perry.

He said the team had originally planned a sprint finish for teammate Mr Nolan Hoffman, who won the points jersey in the Bestmed Tour de Boland and Mzansi Tour in recent weeks, but mechanicals put an end to this strategy.

“I had the best legs on the day, so the weight fell on my shoulders,” said Perry

Perry rode himself into form during the recent Mzansi Tour and also took part in the Wilro 100 Lions Cycle Challenge earlier in April.

In the women’s race, Ms Lise Olivier from team Time Freight-Velo Life held her nerve to win a small bunch sprint to the line.

Ms Olivier, who was runner-up in the Tour de Boland after winning the final stage, crossed the line in 2:47:40, one second ahead of Ms Anriette Schoeman from team Africa Silks-Bestmed and Ms An-Li Kachelhoffer from team Activate Drinks.

On Saturday, Ian Pienaar won the 40 kilometre men’s mountain bike race, which shadowed the airport runways, in 1:39:37.

Victory in the women’s event went to 2013 national junior marathon champion Ms Jessica Alcock from team Jeep SA in 2:00:54. @BedfordEdenvale