[UPDATE] West Rand team power their way to dominate and win the inaugural Tour de Limpopo
ProTouch controlled the race, defending its Yellow, White and Polka Dot Jerseys.
Local West Rand-based professional road cycling team, ProTouch, powered its way through 416km and 6 880m of vertical elevation in the Tour de Limpopo.
The event, which was held from 23 to 26 April, was the inaugural event – with 11 South African teams competing against teams from Uganda, Zambia, Mauritius, Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland and Serbia.
Team ProTouch kick-started its dominance of the tour with a first stage win, covering 96,6km and 1 266m of climbing. The team completed the stage with the Best Young Rider (White Jersey), King of the Mountain (Polka Dot Jersey) and Most Aggressive Rider (Red Jersey).
With Clint Hendricks (Team BCX) starting Stage 2 in the Yellow Jersey, after claiming the Hotspot points in Stage 1, the ProTouch duo, Jaydé Julius and James Fourie, dominated the “Queen’s Stage” with a 2-minute lead at the 100km mark. Gustav Basson went on to finish third overall on the stage and claimed the Yellow Jersey, while also retaining the Best Young Rider Jersey. James Fourie held onto the King of the Mountain Jersey while Jaydé Julius retained the Red Jersey.
Team ProTouch then went on to seize the Team Time-trial, covering a circular route of 28,6km, finishing in a time of 37.17min, ahead of Team BCX (South Africa) and Team MCB (Mauritius). Team captain, Reynard Butler, praised “[the] solid team effort in defending the Yellow Jersey, ahead of the final stage”.
The fourth and final stage of the tour consisted of a 116km stage from Tzaneen to Polokwane, ending at the Peter Mokaba Stadium. ProTouch controlled the race, defending its Yellow, White and Polka Dot Jerseys. The stage was won by Team BXC’s Marc Pritzen, followed by BCX teammates, Steven van Heerden and David Maree.
“It takes a whole team to win a tour like this” said overall winner, ProTouch’s Gustav Basson. “Without them, it would not have been possible” he added.
“ProTouch came with a plan to win the tour and the team executed the plan perfectly,” said Tony Harding, ProTouch’s team manager.
ProTouch ended the tour with the Yellow Jersey (Gustav Basson) and second place overall (Jaydé Julius), first place Polka Dot Jersey (James Fourie) and second place, White Jersey and third in the Green Jersey, all carried off by Gustav Basson.
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