The fairy tale mountain-bike debut of Robyn de Groot (Needs Sponsor) is far from over. On Saturday (15 June), at the MTN Rooiberg event in Limpopo, she achieved another cycling first when she won the women’s marathon over 75km.
Eventual 2nd place Yolandi du Toit in action at MTN_Rooiberg
Photo: Zoon Cronje
It was her first victory in the MTN series. De Groot has now pretty much consolidated her position as the overall leader in the women’s MTN Marathon National MTB Series.
She won the MTN Rooiberg race in a time of 3 hours 42 minutes and 44 seconds. Yolandi du Toit was 2nd in 3:44:21 and Yolande Speedy 3rd in 3:54:25.
Two weeks ago De Groot also won the South African mountain-bike marathon title. Notwithstanding these two major victories, she is under no illusion. “What has been happening feels too good to be true. I do mountain biking for the pure enjoyment of it and, luckily, it is paying off at the moment.
“But I am not taking anything for granted because mountain biking is quite a finicky sport. I need at least one more solid result for a truly realistic chance of winning the MTN series overall. “All it will take to nullify my overall lead in the MTN National MTB Series is one or two mechanical problems.”
De Groot said she started Saturday’s race by riding at a relatively easy pace for the first 15 kilometres or so. “When we reached the queen of the mountain prime I accelerated to make sure that I was first at the top. Yolandi du Toit caught up with me on the tricky ‘roller coaster’ descent and took the lead.
“From then on we were involved in a game of cat and mouse. Yolandi was the faster rider through the technical single-track sections and I made up time on the climbs. Eventually I managed to drop her and open up a sufficient gap to win.”
De Groot will represent South Africa at the UCI World Marathon Championships in Kirchberg, Austria, on29 June. This will be another first for her.
“I have done as much research as I could about the course and it looks like a gruelling, hilly course with a good 3000 metres of ascent. With only 15 days to go to race day, I will not be able to make too many changes. I will try to increase my speed somewhat, but otherwise I will have to stick to what has brought me this far.
“It is wonderful that there will be three of us in the race, and I look forward to represent South Africa alongside Candice Neethling and Samantha Sanders.”
Results
Women (Marathon)
1st Robyn de Groot 03:42:44
2nd Yolandi Du Toit 03:44:21
3rd Yolanda Speedy 03:54:25
Thumbnail image credit: Cycling SA-MTB Marathon Championship
