The Free State seems to favour Yolande de Villiers following her repeat victory in the Mazda Koranna Two Mountains Classic mountain bike race, in Marquard at the weekend.
Back in April at the Mazda Dirty Harry in Harrismith, de Villiers claimed victory in what was one of the tougher events on the national calendar.
But returning to the Free State at the weekend, she confirmed her combination of talent and resilience by triumphing again on probably the most gruelling course in the 10-event Mazda Series.
Defending champion de Villiers (Mazda Merida) had little trouble in claiming the women’s race title, against a field somewhat weakened by the absence of the top three riders in the Series, who are in Europe preparing for the world mountain bike cross-country championships.
The 34-year-old De Villiers rode with the leading men for much of the first 20km, mostly on rolling gravel roads. But she steadily extended her lead once the race hit the technical middle section, and finished 18th overall in 03hr51min21sec. Second place went to Adele Drake with Carla Rowley (Raleigh MTN Energade) rounding out the podium.
Fittingly, de Villiers also won the Velotex Queen of the Mountain prize, and raced in the polka-dot leader’s jersey in that competition, in the absence of actual leader Amy Jane Mundy.
In the 43km Fritz Pienaar Cycles Half-Marathon event, Caitlin de Wet (Mongoose) claimed her fifth Series win in the women’s category.
The eighth leg of the Mazda Series is the Haenertsburg MTB Marathon in Limpopo Province on 8 September. The event will also host the ninth leg of the Fritz Pienaar Cycles Half-Marathon series.
For more information, visit the AdventureZone website.
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