Woolcock and Kruger master Zuurberg Trek
OVERNIGHT leaders Waylon Woolcock and HB Kruger completed a clean sweep of stage wins to claim overall honours in the PwC Great Zuurberg Trek mountain bike race yesterday.
The BCX duo had a keen tussle with their rivals on the third and final day to emerge victorious by 20 seconds at the Zuurberg Mountain Village, perched above the Addo Elephant National Park.
Riding in the event a first time, the Western Cape duo finished the 50km-stage in 2:11:40 for a combined race time of 8:08:01.
“It is one of the best events I have been to,” Woolcock said.
He and Kruger were followed home by Ascendis-LCB’s Gert Heyns and Arno du Toit, who finished in 2:12:00 to consolidate their runner-up spot in the overall standings in 8:12:30.
Defending champion Andrew Hill, who teamed with Marco Joubert for TIB Insurance-Momsen, finished third in 2:12:16 as well as in the general classification in 8:15:49.
With a four-minute buffer going into the technically challenging final stage, Woolcock said their strategy was based on defence rather than attack.
“If you look at the route, we were probably at a slight disadvantage [yesterday] against some of the more technical riders.
“But something seriously would have to go wrong to lose a fourminute advantage in 50km, so we just tried to make sure it did not.”
The top three teams rode together for nearly the whole stage, until BCX spotted an opportunity with about a kilometre to go.
“We saw Arno taking a bit of strain coming up the last drag to the finish, so we just put the hammer down for the stage win,” Woolcock said.
“The hospitality and organisation were top-notch – one of the best events I’ve been to,” he said.
“Besides that, the terrain is amazing, with lots of variety and it can be quite gnarly and rough.
“As a climber, I enjoyed the fact that the stages finished at the top of a mountain every day.”
Having added the Zuurberg title to the Winelands Encounter they won last month, Woolcock said it was important for him and Kruger to show their credentials.
“At the end, it is all about giving back to our sponsors and getting as much coverage as we can – so this win fits in with our team objectives,” he said.
“It’s important to aim high and doing well gives us and our sponsors great exposure – and that’s always an incentive to try win.”
Heyns and Du Toit said their mindset was to be aggressive.
“But the BCX guys rode well defensively and kept getting onto the single-track in front and we couldn’t get away,” Du Toit said.
“Still, it was an awesome experience with some great trails and we really enjoyed the vibe.”
Hill, who won in 2014 and last year, said he and Joubert also tried to go hard from the start, but always felt it would come down to the final climb.
The mixed title went to Neill Ungerer and Yolande de Villiers, of Dryland-Ultimate Cycling, who dominated all three stages for a decisive victory.