Bell and Beers team up for Absa Cape Epic
The race was a furious one, with a crash on the first climb taking out some of the riders
Team NAD Pro’s Wessel Botha competed in the 2018 UCI World Cup series for u/23s and finished in 19th position.
This tournament attracted some of the best XCO riders in the world.
Botha, who joined NAD at the beginning of the year, was the best-placed South African rider. He knew that the track would be technical and fast.
The race was a furious one, with a crash on the first climb taking out some of the riders, including Botha.
This pushed him to the back of the field and it was a hard fight to get back.
“I didn’t have the best start. There was a crash right in front of me on the first hill, which set me back a bit.”
By the second lap he was in 30th position as he continued to battle the technical course. “The other riders were consistently fast throughout the race. It was my first world cup, so I didn’t have any expectations; I just wanted to ride as hard as I could. I’m happy with my result.”
Team NAD Pro’s Nico Bell and Gawie Combrinck, who crossed the finish line in the 2017 Cape Epic finale as second-place finishers in the Absa African Jersey category, will not ride together this year.
Newcomer to the team, Matt Beers will join Bell when the event kicks off from Table Mountain on March 18. The team left for Cape Town yesterday.
“We will go check out the route on Saturday and make sure our bikes are set for the eight-day tour. We are really excited for the race to start,” Bell stated.
Beers said he feels good and positive going into the race. “We did a little bit of intervals during the week to keep the body going. We need to make sure we eat well and take our vitamins.”
