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Home  Media Releases Knox De Villiers out to win at Barberton
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Jan
27
2009
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Knox De Villiers out to win at Barberton |
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Written by Administrator
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Tuesday, 27 January 2009 |
Press
Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SUNDAY 25 JANUARY
2009
KNOX, DE VILLIERS TOUGH IT OUT TO WIN AT BARBERTON
Twenty-one-year-old Max
Knox (DCM Chrome) proved he’s maturing into one of South Africa’s new endurance sport stars when he
won the tough first round of the MTN National Marathon Mountain Bike Series in
Barberton at the
weekend.
Clocking a time of 05hrs 11min 28sec for the gruelling 120km
race, Knox actually led a Team DCM Chrome 1-2-3 across the finish line with
teammates Jacques Janse van Rensburg finishing second and Brandon Stewart
third.
However, Stewart was later disqualified for an incident involving
South African marathon champion, Kevin Evans (MTN Energade) out on the course.
Evans crossed the finish line fourth, but was promoted to third following
Stewart’s removal from the results with David George (MTN Energade) claiming
fourth place and Francois Theron (Garmin adidias) rounding out the top
five.
“It was a pretty brutal race today but a good one to win. We had
quite a fast pace early on so it ended up being a matter of who had the most
left at the end. My teammates were strong today. Any one of us could have won. I
just happened to be the least tired at the end,” said a typically modest
Knox.
Knox, Stewart and Janse van Rensburg were in the small select lead
group that formed early on along with defending champion Burry Stander (Mr Price
Specialized) and 2007 winner, Evans. Stander, the current Under-23 World Cup
cross-country champion, crashed in the muddy conditions just before halfway,
sustaining a knee injury. For fear of aggravating the injury, Stander opted to
withdraw, leaving Evans to contend with the DCM Chrome trio on his
own.
“With three of us against Kevin (Evans) we did what any team would
do in that situation and worked him over a bit with repeated attacks forcing him
to chase which wore him down,” explained Knox. “There was some heated
interaction between him and Brandon (Stewart) which resulted in Brandon almost
crashing and Kevin actually crashing. We waited for him to rejoin us before
continuing to race.”
But a weary Evans eventually dropped out of podium
contention with 35km remaining, leaving the three DCM Chrome riders to decide
the final positions among themselves. Evans lodged a protest against Stewart at
the finish, which resulted in officials disqualifying Stewart.
In the
women’s 75km event, Yolande de Villiers (Cycle Lab Supercycling Toyota) made a
triumphant return to racing following a disappointing 2008, most of which saw
her sidelined by a lengthy recovery from shoulder surgery.
The
35-year-old former national marathon champion took an early lead and finished in
a respectable time of 3hr43min20sec, almost 20 minutes ahead of runner-up Ischen
Stopforth, who ran her bike across the finish line as a result of a mechanical
problem late in the race. Chrissie Viljoen (MTN Energade) completed the podium
places.
“I was a bit apprehensive for the long, fast downhill so I pushed
hard at the start to try and build up as much of a lead as I could. That way I
could be a bit cautious on the downhill,” explained an elated De Villiers who
was virtually unchallenged throughout the race.
“There were a lot of
river crossings late in the race and by the end my arm and hand had gone numb.
But it was a case of putting mind over matter since I was very motivated to
defend my title. I am so happy to win my first big race back!”
In the
men's 75km marathon, Sub-veteran, Paul Cordes (IMC Racing) captured the win
ahead of rising Junior star, Shaun-Nick Bester and Veteran, Andrew McLean (both
of Cycle Lab Supercycling Toyota).
More than 1800 riders started the
traditional big-race season opener, competing in the 120km and 75km MTN National
Marathon events and the 45km MiWay National Half-marathon. Conditions were
cloudy and ranged from humid and sticky in the valleys to cold and misty at the
top of the big climbs, while mud, stones and sand created a good variety of
surfaces – and challenges – over what was a very balanced new race
route.
The next event in the prestigious series, the MTN National
Marathon – Chandelier, will take place in Oudtshoorn on Sunday 26
April.
For full results and more information, visit www.cyclesport.co.za
MTN National
Marathon Series – Barberton
Brief leading
results
MEN
120km
1 Max Knox – DCM Chrome 5:11:28
2 Jacques Janse van
Rensburg – DCM Chrome 5:12:15
3 Kevin Evans – MTN Energade 5:29:17
4 David
George – MTN Energade 5:38:32
5 Francois Theron – Garmin adidas
5:40:38
WOMEN 75km
1
Yolande de Villiers – Cycle Lab Supercycling Toyota 3:43:20
2 Ischen
Stopforth 4:03:00
3 Chrissie Viljoen – MTN Energade 4:04:05
ENDS.
 Jacques Janse van Rensburg leads the front group up a climb early on in the Elite men’s Ultra-marathon.
 Max Knox conserved his energy early on, putting him in a position to go for the win in the latter stages.
 Max Knox confirmed his endurance capabilities by winning the first ever Ultra-marathon in the MTN National Mountain Bike Series.
 Brandon Stewart, who was later disqualified, leads the front group along a mist-shrouded hillside in the company of (from left) Jacques Janse van Rensburg, Burry Stander and Max Knox.
 Yolande de Villiers had reason to smile after returning from a long injury layoff to win the women’s race comfortably.
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