Local cyclist wins women’s race at East Rand Classic
One of Pretoria's veteran women cyclists made a breakthrough in her career last week when she won the East Rand Classic cycling road race in Kempton Park.
Pretoria’s Sanet Coetzee won the women’s division of the East Rand Classic cycling road race in Kempton Park last week.
Coetzee, who rides for the Clover team, outsprinted Heidi Dalton of Demacon MaxWax Racing in the dash for the line. Kim le Court, also of Demacon, came in third.
The women’s feature race was also won by Coetzee’s Clover team.
The 35-year-old Coetzee, from Faerie Glen in Pretoria, was delighted with her top podium finish after playing second fiddle to Demacon in a number of races over the past 15 months.
“It seems that I have been stuck in a ‘Demacon sandwich’, last year and this year. So, I was extremely happy to win this one,” she jokingly said.
With it being a generally flat and fast route, Coetzee, who finished in 2:37:44, said none of the attacks in the first half of the race amounted to anything.
“Then, just past the 50km mark, Heidi and Kim launched a serious attack and I got onto their wheels. It was basically two against one and although I didn’t really want to work with them, I decided I must so I could at least try for a spot on the podium,” she explained her tactics.
On the final incline, Coetzee put in an attack of her own and managed to shake off Le Court.
“Heidi stayed with me and I was ready to take her on in a sprint finish, so I went hard for the last 5km. I know the race timing had Heidi a minute behind me, but it was a sprint all the way to the finish and I just managed to stay ahead,” Coetzee concluded.
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