Theuns achieves breakthrough Cycle Classic win

Sunday’s surprise Paratus Namibian Cycle Classic 100 km men’s open race winner Theuns van der Westhuizen put his name among the list of respected big guns who have previously won this prestigious road cycling event.The 19-year-old Van der Westhuizen beat Martin Freyer and Jacque Hanekom in a three-way sprint to the finish line, with Hanekom’s time (2 hours 32 minutes 10 seconds) only one second behind the two in front of him that were credited with an identical 2:31:09. Drikus Coetzee (2:32:18) arrived in fourth place eight seconds behind the podoim finishers, followed by Brandon Plaatjies, Roger Surén, Kevin Lowe, Danzel de Koe, Murray Koch and Christiaan van Rensburg (RSA).The women's 100 km open top-five finishers were Anri Greeff (first by a comfortable margin after 2:58:06), Lelani Swart (second), Benita Kasch (third), Olivia Shililifa and Marissa Mouton.The previous day, Martin Freyer and Anri Greeff were the winners of the Paratus Namibian Cycle Classic's 50 km mountain bike races.As a double winner in both cycling codes, Greeff afterwards gave credit to her husband Michiel, a well-known biokinetist. “Your coaching, guidance and the best support has gotten me so far since we started and I cannot wait to continue trusting the process to see what the rest of the year has in store,” she posted.Hard work rewardedNational team coach Hans du Toit is among the insiders who were less surprised by the current form of Van der Westhuizen, who finished last year’s Paratus Namibian Cycle Classic road race in 35th position as the second-best junior (U18) rider behind Adrian Key.Van der Westhuizen’s biggest breakthrough win of his career puts his name among the illustrious list of men’s winners of the last few years, including the likes of Marc Pritzen (2018 and 2020), Drikus Coetzee (2019), Hugo Hahn (2021), Ingram Cuff (2022) and Alex Miller (2023).Du Toit says Van der Westhuizen had always been in the background during mountain biking cross-country races.“This year he has been a member of our team to the African Games and we decided to shift more of his focus towards road cycling.“For the last two weeks he attended training at the World Cycling Centre in Paarl in the Western Cape, where much of the focus was also on road races.“I am glad to see Theuns’ big day arriving after the hard work and dedication of the last few months. I believe this could motivate him towards even bigger achievements in the future.”In Sunday’s race, quite a big group of around 12 riders rode at the front until about seven kilometres from the finish line at Doc Jubber field.“Drikus Coetzee, Martin Freyer, Jaque Hanekom and Thheuns broke away and were together around the last few street corners in Olympia. Hanekom – another new and young rider with much potential – went ahead first and held a small gap, but was overtaken in the final sprint by Theuns and Martin,” Du Toit explained.60 km road raceWomen’s open: 1 Rosemarie Thiel, 2 Marcelle Eloff, 3 Jackie Shipena.Men’s open: 1 Petrus Human, 2 Petrus Hanga, 3 Marco Augustyn.Hand cyclists: 1 Nico Karuxab, 2 Roodly Gowaseb, 3 Gabriel Nghiishililwa.

Theuns achieves breakthrough Cycle Classic win

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Theuns achieves breakthrough Cycle Classic win

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