Matthys Beukes and Candice Neethling won the men and women’s titles respectively after closely fought battles at the Van Gaalen round of the 2017 Ashburton Investments National Mountain Bike Series, at Skeerpoort west of Pretoria on Saturday.

Beukes from the Pyga Eurosteel team eventually triumphed in a race-long duel with Round four winner, Brendon Davids (Road Cover) to claim the win in a time of 02:55:34. Davids was just 0.1 seconds behind with Gert Heyns from the Ascendis Health team rounding out the podium places.

“Brendon is so strong on the flats and there’s quite a lot of flat sections here. I was bleeding to keep on his wheel. On the last climb I thought it was game over for me, so I just put in one last attack and it worked out. I got a gap and just tried to hold my small lead to the end, which I only just managed to do,” said a weary Beukes, who now takes the Series lead going into round six.

In the women’s race a tight tussle saw Neethling from the Dormakaba team and Samantha Sanders (Valencia) duke it out in a sprint, with Neethling just edging ahead to take the win in a time of 03:29:14. Sanders was given the same time with South African champion, Robyn de Groot from Ascendis Health taking third place in 03:30:31. De Groot still holds onto the series lead.

“I checked out the finish before the start and knew the first person into the last corner should win. So my positioning at the end was perfect for that sprint. It was a hot pace from the beginning in the women’s race today and I’m very happy to have won. It’s a really challenging route, which I love,” smiled Neethling.

Round 6 of the Ashburton Investments National MTB Series takes place at Dullstroom, Mpumalanga on 2 and 3 September. To enter, or for more information, visit www.nationalmtbseries.com

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