Brandon Downes of TEG won the five-day Mpumalanga Cycle Tour last week.

He beat Lowvelder Nico Bell by 49 seconds over the 584km race.

Downes claimed the yellow jersey on stage 2 and never relinquished it.

Jaco van Wyk won stage 1 last Tuesday.

The first stage was the longest of the tour, a 197km trek from Loskop Dam, a Forever Resort, to Badplaas, a Forever Resort.

Van Wyk, riding for Cycle Power, clocked 05:22;04 to earn the yellow jersey.

Eight riders finished in the bunch, one second back.

The 99km second stage was from Badplaas to Mbombela last Wednesday.

Downes raced superbly to win the stage in 02:30;06 and take over the yellow jersey.

Casper Kruger of TEG finished second in 02:30;48 and Nico Bell of Typedev Bell’s Cycling was third in 02:30;53.

Kruger moved to second in the overall classifications and Bell to third.

Van Dyk dropped down to eighth, but came back strongly on day 3 to win the stage.

He clocked 03:15;57 for the 112km stage three from Casterbridge to Long Tom Pass and back to Casterbridge.

Jayde Julius, also of Cycle Power, Bell, Downes and Christiaan Klopper of Zuki Mxoli followed Van Dyk in 03:16;03.

Downes retained the yellow jersey with an overall 53-second lead over Bell.

Van Dyk was seventh overall after stage 3.

Stage four on Friday took the cyclists from Casterbridge to Hazyview and back to Casterbridge.

Cycle Power’s Nick James powered his way ahead of the peloton and crossed the finish line first in a time of 01:59;23.

Nine riders finished in the bunch in 02:01;56, including Downes and Bell. Downes remained the overall leader, with Bell still in second.

Day 5 was a 104km route from Casterbridge to the Sudwala Caves and back to Casterbridge.

Kimham van der Merwe of Zuki Mxoli claimed the stage honours in 03:19;51, with Alwyn Steenkamp of TEG, Van Dyk and Ivan Harkema of Typedev Bell’s Cycling all credited with the same time.

Bell and Downes clocked 03:20;30, which was enough to give Downes the tour victory.

His time over the five stages was 16:30;30.

Bell was second in 16:31;19 and Julius third in 16:31;32.

Points competition
1. Jaco van Dyk (Cyle Power) – 32
2. Kimham van der Merwe (Zuki Mxoli) – 28
3. Nick James (Cycle Power) – 22

King of the Mountains
1. Tristan Cuthbert (TEG) – 28
2. Jaco van Dyk (Cyle Power) – 17
3. Kimham van der Merwe (Zuki Mxoli) – 14

Best young rider
1. Christiaan Klopper (Zuki Mxoli) – 16:31;40 2.
Damon Fouché (Honeycomb) – 16:33;55 3.
Kimham van der Merwe (Zuki Mxoli) – 16:50;13.