Cycling sensation beats the clock
South African road-cycling sensation, Daryl Impey won the time-trial event of the Pennypinchers South African Road, Time-trial and Paracycling Championships yesterday at an average speed of 49 kilometres per hour.
He was lined up to compete against some of the country’s top riders in Mbombela, namely Willie Smit, Jay Thomson, Reinardt Janse van Rensburg, Louis Meintjies and JC Nel.
The yellow-jersey rider for stages seven and eight of the Tour de France in 2013, Impey, recently returned from international duty with his Australian-based Orica-GreenEDGE team.
Meintjies, who earned the silver medal in the world u/23 road-race championships in 2013, received a bronze medal in the time trials only seconds behind his teammate, Janse van Rensburg. Local favourite, Smit finished strong but just missed a place on the podium by 40 seconds.
Bronze medallist at last year’s Commonwealth Games, Ashleigh Pasio Moolman, who rides for Bigla, a European-based team, was quick off the mark at 10:00 claiming her winning spot in the time trial. Also in the group was the Cape Argus Pick n Pay Momentum Cycle Tour Women’s winner, Cherise Stander of team RECM and local rider of team Sasol Women’s Racing, Dalene van der Leek.
The main event, the road race, takes place tomorrow starting at 06:00 from Mbombela Stadium.
