Tour Durban brings out best in local riders
Van Heerden narrowly missed out on back to back titles when he was pipped at the line by Seam Merredew in the 2016 aQuellé Tour Durban 105 kilometre road race.
Ballito’s Deno van Heerden continues to stamp down his authority on men’s road cycling in the 35-39 age group.
Van Heerden narrowly missed out on back to back titles when he was pipped at the line by Seam Merredew in the 2016 aQuellé Tour Durban 105 kilometre road race on a windy Sunday, April 24 in Durban.
The event started and finished at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban and included a 105 and 45 kilometre road races and a 55 kilometre cyclo cross race.
A cyclo cross route is made up of a combination of on and off-road sections and riders can use road or mountain bikes although mountain bikes are advised.
Van Heerden won the 105 kilometre road race in 2015 and was hoping to make it two in a row but Sean Merredew had other plans and edged out the current vets 35-39 national time trial champion by a hair’s breadth.
“I do not think it could have been closer. Well done to Sean (Merredew) taking the win today at the aQuellé Tour Durban and to Brad (Bradley Venter) for taking third,” said Van Heerden.
The 55 kilometre cyclo cross race, also produced an exciting two-man sprint finish between Ballito’s Joshua Nelson and team Kargo Pro’s Marco Joubert that was virtually too close to call.
Joubert got the podium but the official results page initially gave Nelson a one second quicker time which caused some confusion that was eventually corrected late on Monday afternoon.
Nelson showed good sportsmanship, waiting for Joubert to get back on his bike when he crashed in the early stages of the race.
“This is what cyclists do. It is not good etiquette to win by default.”
After a slow start to the year and string of bad luck with technical difficulties, Nelson is happy with the result.
“It feels fantastic to finally be in good form again,” said Nelson.
As always, Devon Baird and Chloe Bateson kept the Ballito flag flying high clocking the second fastest time in the men’s 45 kilometre road race while Bateson was the fastest in the women’s 45 kilometre race.
However, she did not get a podium position because she started in the D bunch – only those who started in the A bunch were in contention for the podium.
Photo: Anthony Grote/Gameplan Media
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