Kent Main and Tiffany Keep were triumphant at the 46th edition of the Cape Town Cycle Tour on Sunday.
Main slipped off the front of a select group, inside the final 5km and time-trialled to the line. In the women’s race, Keep edged out S’annara Grove with a bike throw on the line to claim victory by a tyre’s width after a fiercely contested sprint.
The men’s race started with bang and the pace was frenetic with Jaco van Dyk making the first attempted breakaway. Once the Honeycomb Pro Cycling rider was caught, a group of six launched clear. They were driven down the Blue Route by Theuns Van Der Bank, with Brad Scott, Dan Loubser and Luke Moir also helping extend the gap. Despite having a teammate in the break Honeycomb recognised the danger posed by the men at the front and worked to bring the leaders back.
The peloton never made the catch. Honeycomb’s pace shredded the field and only a select, reduced group were able to reel in the leaders, who themselves had been whittled down to just Loubser and Moir by the time they reached Scarborough. The duo at the front were eventually caught approaching the final significant climb of the race by Alan Hatherly, Kent Main, Marc Pritzen, Jaedon Terlouw, Charlie Aldridge, Jaco Venter and Alex Miller.
As the catch was made the pace increased and Loubser and Terlouw were unable to follow on the steepest pitches of Suikerbossie. This left a group of Hatherly, Main, Pritzen, Terlouw, Aldridge, Venter, Miller, and Moir to fight it out for victory. A tactical battle played out over the next few kilometres until Main ghosted off the front.
Once clear, Main put his head down and charged for Green Point.
Only within the final 400m could he relax and soak up the emotions.
“I’ve got goosebumps,” Main grinned. “It was an amazing race. It was super hard right from the beginning, but I think how tough it was actually worked in our favour. It’s amazing to have won.”
In the women’s race the early headwinds and lack of teams made for a tactical first half to the 78km route.
Smitswinkel usually serves to thin the field but with a block headwind a large peloton summited the opening climb together then raced downhill and downwind past the Cape Point National Park and through Scarborough as well as Misty Cliffs together.
Only on the run in to Chapman’s Peak Drive did the group begin to meaningfully stretch as Juanita Mackenzie went on a solo raid.
At the foot of the famous climb Grove powered past Mackenzie with Keep on her wheel. Grove set the pace up Little Chappies before Keep countered on Chapman’s Peak proper.
Only South African Road Champion Carla Oberholzer could follow the DAS Hutchinson Brother UK’s rider’s tempo.
Grove managed the gap behind and kept the Sandton City Cycle Nation rider and her fellow leader to a 10-second margin over the summit of the climb. Dropping to Hout Bay the women’s favourites came back together with Vera Looser, Jo van de Winkel and Catherine Colyn joining Grove at the front with Oberholzer and Keep.
Van de Winkel was the first to attack climbing out of Hout Bay, but Keep blew past her within 500m of the summit with Grove, Oberholzer and Looser in tow. Van de Winkel dug deep to hold Looser’s wheel, but was not able to do so.
Once Keep, Grove, Oberholzer and Looser reached Beach Road in Sea Point it was clear that the race would be determined by a sprint.
Grove was the first to kick, jumping clear by a handful of metres and then trying to hold her power through the agonising final 50m. Just when it looked like the Doltcini O’Shea Cycling Team rider was going to do enough, Keep came ranging up on her outside. The pair threw for the line in unison and the DAS Hutchinson Brother UK rider edged it by the narrowest of margins.
“It was super, super close. S’annara (Grove) jumped me with about 100m to go and I had to work quite hard to get back to her wheel. So... I’m really, very, happy with that,” Keep said.
Men’s Results
Kent Main: RKC Collective (2:31:21)
Charlie Aldridge: Cannondale Factory Racing (2:31:35 | +14)
Alan Hatherly: Cannondale Factory Racing (2:31:36 | +15)
Jaco Venter: MadMacs (2:31:36 | +15)
Luke Moir: Cube Factory Racing XC (2:31:36 | +15)
Women’s Results:
Tiffany Keep: DAS Hutchinson Brother UK (2:12:01)
S’annara Grove: Doltcini O’Shea Cycling Team (ST)
Vera Looser: Efficient Infiniti Insure (ST)
Carla Oberholzer: Sandton City Cycle Nation (ST)
Jo van de Winkel: Sandton City Cycle Nation (2:12:16 | + 15)
Cape Times