Twentieth Berge en Dale crown taken by Jason Oosthuizen
The 20th edition of the race was not without its fair share of excitement.
This year’s Berge en Dale served up an exciting finish as two teenagers battled it out over the last few hundred metres of the race, with Jason Oosthuizen edging Marc Pritzen to the line.
This year’s race was full of changes, as the event had a new race venue and thus a new start at Silverstar, as well as a brand new finish on the uphill just before the crest on Paardekraal Drive. The 108km riders started off at 6am on Saturday, 23 February, and naturally, ProTouch Cycling had its own outfit taking part.
As Berge en Dale defending champion, Reynard Butler, had been feeling unwell, he was unable to push to defend his title, but was able to aid in team tactics. The tactics seemed to pay off, as Songezo Jim was the second ProTouch cyclist over the line, finishing with a time of 2:31:06 in 13th place in the overall standings.
Songezo’s impressive effort was only 28 seconds shy of teenager, Tiano da Silva who, as the first ProTouch cyclist over the line, managed to finish in a time of 2:30:28. He finished as the second-placed junior cyclist, 37 seconds behind junior winner, Travis Stedman, after cycling the race at an average speed of 43,07km/h.
Despite Tiano’s monumental effort, he simply wasn’t able to keep up with the two breakaway riders Jason Oosthuizen and Marc Pritzen. Prior to the race, Marc was pipped as the one to most likely seal the win at the 20th Berge en Dale race, but fellow teenager Jason Oosthuizen had other ideas.
Both managed to maintain an average speed of 43,45km/h, and as they entered the last stretch they remained neck-and-neck heading towards the climb into the finish. The race finished on a tough incline this year, and this allowed for a tough sprint into the finish for the two youngsters. At the start of the climb, Marc seemed to be slightly edging Jason, but Jason timed his acceleration perfectly and managed to edge past Marc by a matter of centimetres and split seconds.
Jason, who hails from Noordheuwel, was crowned the winner of the 20th Berge en Dale at the race’s new venue, Silverstar, after the race and was able to revel in the moment of what is undoubtedly the biggest win of his career thus far.
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