Lowvelder conquers six-day tour

The Mpumalanga Cycle Tour finished in victory for one of the Lowveld’s own on Saturday, when Willie Smit won the inaugural six-day cycle tour.

The brainchild of Cycling South Africa, the tour is the only one of its kind for professional cyclists in the country.

Christo Wagenaar, marketing executive at Forever Resorts, explains that South African cyclists often fare very well in competitions in Europe, but there are no long, gruelling events held here.

This tour, which is mainly sponsored by the Mpumalanga Department of Culture, Sport and Recreation (DCSR) and also Forever Resorts, aims to rectify it.

Cyclists completed a total of 752 kilometres over the six days with a total climb of 11 514 metres. The elite men kicked off at Loskop Dam on Monday. They covered Badplaas, Mbombela, Barberton, Hazyview, Graskop, Pilgrims Rest and Blyde Canyon to finish at the Forever Hotel in White River on Saturday.

It started off very close: at the start of stage three, not even two minutes separated the 10 front runners, before local rider Nico Bell took a lead of just over four minutes.

Smit, who also won the Bestmed Jock Cycle Tour last year, won the next stage and then managed to win the overall race in a time of 20:31:18. He was followed by Calvin Beneke in 20:32:11, HB Kruger in 20:32:57 and Bell in 20:33:54.

Paul van Zweel’s 20:35:18 placed him overall fifth, JC Nel was sixth with 20:36:36 and Chris Jooste took seventh spot in 20:38:53. They were followed by Morné van Niekerk in 20:38:57, Mornay van Heerden in 20:40:05 and Gustav Basson in 20:44:42 to round out the top-10 overall finishers.

Hendrik Wagner, vice-president of Cycling South Africa, says the spirit of the spectators, especially in Barberton where the cyclists passed through on Wednesday, was amazing to observe.

Wagenaar adds that this year the event was not marketed abroad. “We didn’t want to invite the big names until we were certain we could do it.” This is set to change next year, as by all accounts it was a massive success.

• View the women’s results by clicking on the picture:

• See more pictures here: Day three of the Mpumalanga Cycle Challenge: all the action