![\"ccs-62657-0-77664900-1479314531.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-62657-0-77664900-1479314531.jpg\")
<\/a>Norwegian Vita Heine (HITEC Products – centre) grabbed a decisive victory in the Queen Nandi Challenge in a time of three hours 16 minutes and 17 seconds at the KZN Summer Series for Women – Queen Nandi Challenge – in Pietermaritzburg and surrounds on Wednesday 16 November 2016. Photo credit: Stuart Pickering\/Cycling Direct<\/span><\/p>\nThe nine o\u2019clock start was a rude awakening as the African sun bore down on the riders and the heat set in as they prepared for the challenge ahead. At 30 kilometres into the race, a group of 19 riders formed, with a smaller group of seven riders breaking away, including Heine, Garcia, South Africans An-Li Kachelhoffer (Pretoria Box Pro Cycling), Samantha Sanders and Carla Oberholzer (Demacon Cycling Team), Lise Olivier (Time Freight eTeam) and Ethiopian Eyeru Tesfoam (World Cycling Centre Africa 1).<\/p>\n
Becker then bridged the 30-metre gap to the lead group, bringing the group to eight. On the exceptionally hilly route, Olivier claimed to \u201ctake one for the team\u201d as her strength in hill climbing came to the fore and she broke away from the lead group at the 45-kilometre mark, holding the sole lead for the next 11 kilometres, at times with a gap of 50-seconds to the group.<\/p>\n
The chase group worked hard to close the gap to Olivier and caught her halfway into the race. The lead group \u2013 now including Becker, Sanders, Heine, Garcia, Olivier and Dane Marie Vilmann (Cervelo Bigla) \u2013 rode at a comfortable pace, making the climbing look easy. Two attacks came from Garcia with under 10 kilometres to go where she gained 18 seconds on the bunch. The group caught her and she attacked again at five kilometres to go. With a 30-second lead in the race, Heine counterattacked and caught her and they raced the final kilometers to Midmar Dam together, with the Norwegian surging in the final metres to take the victory from the Spaniard.<\/p>\n
Race winner Vita Heine (HITEC Products) said: \u201cMy attack at the end was actually decided very late. We were seven girls in a breakaway until about five kilometres to go and then everybody started attacking a little bit. I attacked and joined Garcia and I was preparing for the sprint, so I didn\u2019t want to go too early. But she was attacking and I was on her wheel so I just counter-attacked because it was a great moment to do it. She just couldn\u2019t follow. It\u2019s very nice to win here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking of her African experience so far, Heine said, \u201cThis is the first time for the whole team to be here and we are enjoying many things for the first time. The nature, culture, and food are very nice. The people here have been amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lise Olivier of the Time Freight eTeam said: \u201cThis race is such a big opportunity for anybody in Africa to race against world-class professionals. For me and my teammate Kim Le Court, it is extra special to have Bizkaia-Durango here, which we raced for in Europe for three months. There\u2019s some good camaraderie and I think we all suffered together. All in all it was an incredibly well organised event and I am very happy to be part of it.<\/p>\n \u201cToday\u2019s race was much tougher than I expected. We lost our sponsor recently so the whole team has been very emotional but we just came out here wanting to give it our all and take some chances and I think that\u2019s what we did. I kind of had to put my hand up for the race today because of all the climbing, but we have a strong team for tomorrow and we\u2019ll go out there and do the same. We just have to be active in the racing and show the organisers appreciation for what they\u2019ve done for us in hosting these events.\u201d<\/p>\n Eyeru Tesfoam of the World Cycling Centre Africa 1 Team said: \u201cThe competition is very hard, but I am happy because I stayed with them for a long time. I am ready for tomorrow and to do even better than today.\u201d<\/p>\n From a management perspective, Cervelo Bigla Pro Team Manager Thomas Campana gave his input on the racing today. \u201c\u201cThe race was much harder than expected. It was really hard because what we don\u2019t consider is that this is higher altitude. For us, coming from Europe in the off-season, experiencing high humidity and high altitudes, is really hard for us.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the second time that the team is in the country to compete. We came and took part in the 947 Cycle Challenge last year, with the victory of Ashleigh (Moolmen-Pasio). Ashleigh is a major player and brings a lot of African culture to the team, which is very nice. It was very clear that we were coming to Africa \u2013 especially with three UCI races in a row.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a>Racing was of a high calibre as local and international professional cycling teams battled it out at the KZN Summer Series for Women – Queen Nandi Challenge – in Pietermaritzburg and surrounds on Wednesday 16 November 2016. Photo credit: Stuart Pickering\/Cycling Direct<\/span><\/p>\n