Bestmed Jock Tour and Classic produces the goods

The three-day Bestmed Jock Tour and Classic finished at the Mbombela Stadium in Mpumalanga on 17 September, with RoadCover cyclist, Brendon Davids claiming a career first tour victory in the event.

Fourways resident, Davids, cemented his overall lead in what is arguably South Africa’s most gruelling road race, after finishing the 138km final stage in third place.

Stage 3 belonged to ProTouch’s James Fourie with Dimension Data’s Kent Main, who wore the yellow jersey on day two after winning the opening day’s individual time-trial, finishing in second. The general classifications saw team ProTouch’s Jayde Julius finish as runner-up, while his teammate, Myles van Musschenbroek completed the podium.

“I’m happy with how this weekend turned out, it’s a really cool feeling,” said Davids after his triumph. “It’s my first tour win, the first time I’ve worn a yellow jersey on the road, so I’m pretty happy with how things have turned out.”

The final day saw riders tackle the fearsome Boulders climb early on, which was status quo for the general classification contenders at the base of the Hilltop ascent 131km into the race. Team ProTouch shot for the climb first when riders Pieter Seyffert and Gustav Basson tried to set Julius up for a final assault on yellow.

“Pieter and Gustav had gone too deep so they left Jayde isolated and it was just him, Kent and myself from there,” said Davids. “Halfway up, I attacked one of the switchbacks and only Kent really responded.

“Jayde laboured onto the wheel and I knew the next move would be the one that would give us the gap…With 2km to go, we realised there was another rider up the road. I completely buried myself to try and get within a winning distance, but it was too little too late.”

In the women’s cycling event, Demacon’s overnight leader Carla Oberholzer secured overall victory after claiming stage 2 and 3. Stage 1 winner Yolandi du Toit, riding for Garmin, minimised her losses to take second ahead of former national road champion Cherise Willeit.

Oberholzer was part of a three-woman sprint for the finish after she and Bestmed-ASG’s, Sanet Coetzee formed an early breakaway 3km after the start.

“We got a decent gap on the others on Hilltop and rolled together until the finish, where we sprinted it out,” said Oberholzer. “However, the main goal today was to keep the lead and anything we took on top of that was a bonus. It’s always great when you pull something like this off with great teamwork.”

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