{"id":18261,"date":"2016-04-27T17:05:00","date_gmt":"2016-04-27T16:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/2016\/04\/27\/combrinck-and-bell-race-into-joberg2c-lead-r4669\/"},"modified":"2023-02-08T08:20:55","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T08:20:55","slug":"combrinck-and-bell-race-into-joberg2c-lead-r4669","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/combrinck-and-bell-race-into-joberg2c-lead-r4669\/","title":{"rendered":"Combrinck and Bell race into joBerg2c lead"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Gawie Combrinck and Nico Bell won the all-new sixth stage of the 2016 Old Mutual joBerg2c in emphatic fashion to become the new overall leaders today.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"w-full aspect-video\">\n<div><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"200\" height=\"113\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Efokc7AlEfo?feature=oembed\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The NAD Pro duo looked in imperious form as they left their major rivals in the dust on the daunting 98km ride in the Southern Drakensberg between Nottingham Road and Glencairn farm on the Sani Pass road.<\/p>\n<p>They stopped the clock on 3:49:51 (22:53:14), with the erstwhile leaders, Telkom\u2019s Johann Rabie and HB Kruger, trailing them home in 3:58:34 (22:58:16) to fall to second in the standings.<\/p>\n<p>Thule-Pyga-TIB\u2019s Andrew Hill and Tyronne White were third in 4:10:49 (23:33:16) to consolidate their third place in the general classification.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was a really aggressive start this morning,\u201d said a visibly relieved Combrinck.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHanco (Kachelhoffer) and Pieter (Seyffert) put everyone in the gutter on the tar road, which made for a really hard start.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen we set a fast tempo up the Gumtree climb and when we saw HB was going off the back we put in an attack. From there it was just flat-out all the way to the finish.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"ipsAttachLink ipsAttachLink_image\" href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-62657-0-76151900-1461776528.jpg\" data-fileid=\"718314\" data-fileext=\"jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-fileid=\"718314\" class=\"ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed\" alt=\"ccs-62657-0-76151900-1461776528.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-62657-0-76151900-1461776528.jpg\" title=\"\"><\/a><span class=\"italic text-sm text-slate-500 block mt-1 mb-4\">Nico Bell (front) and Gawie Combrinck of NAD Pro en route to winning the sixth stage of the 2016 Old Mutual joBerg2c between Nottingham Road and Glencairn on the Sani Pass road. Photo: Full Stop Communications<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Combrinck and Bell, who lost more than three minutes on day four after suffering a cut tyre and then fading towards the finish, built a lead of more than two minutes by the second waterpoint.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe could see them (Telkom) behind us, but we took it quite easy in the technical stuff,\u201d said Combrinck.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe course was also tricky to navigate today, so we made one or two small mistakes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlso, on the descent after the second waterpoint, I clipped a rock and damaged my rear rim, but luckily we managed to repair it quickly and it lasted to the end.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Combrinck, who hails from Nelspruit in Mpumalanga, said they had been racing aggressively every day and felt the victory and overall lead was well deserved.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe put in a hell of an effort today, so, yes, hopefully we can keep it to the end.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The 30-year-old said that even though they were now ahead, they would be looking for more opportunities to gain time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe race our best when we are going flat-out. When you sit up and try to take it easy is when you make mistakes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ll possibly go more conservatively about our business, but we\u2019ll be looking for gaps nevertheless.<\/p>\n<p>He said they were very impressed with the new route.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was an awesome stage; very fast in the beginning and I loved the new single-track. The cattle tracks were also pretty amazing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd we love the long climbs and there were lots of that today.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The 32-year-old Bell, who is also from Nelspruit, said the course suited them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn the district roads someone like Johann is very strong and he can pull his teammate along, but on the climbs and single-track it is every man for himself.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe final 10km are very tough. It is up and down and you don\u2019t see the race village until the very end \u2013 I think the backmarkers will struggle today.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"ipsAttachLink ipsAttachLink_image\" href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-62657-0-85138100-1461776535.jpg\" data-fileid=\"718315\" data-fileext=\"jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-fileid=\"718315\" class=\"ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed\" alt=\"ccs-62657-0-85138100-1461776535.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-62657-0-85138100-1461776535.jpg\" title=\"\"><\/a><span class=\"italic text-sm text-slate-500 block mt-1 mb-4\">Darren Lill (front) and Candice Neethling en route to winning the sixth stage of the 2016 Old Mutual joBerg2c between Nottingham Road and Glencairn on the Sani Pass road. Photo: Full Stop Communications<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Darren Lill and Candice Neethling, from Dorma-USN-Purefit, moved into second overall in the Lanham-Love Attorneys mxied category when they took their second stage win 4:19:04 (24:47:58).<\/p>\n<p>The overall leaders, Johan Labuschange and Catherine Williamson from The Bicycle Company-Bestmed, were second in 4:23:50 (24:32:36).<\/p>\n<p>Grant Usher and Amy McDougall, who lost time yesterday due to a broken saddle, finished third in 4:26:05 (24:48:39) to fall back to the bottom step of the podium.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think we are getting stronger as the race is progressing,\u201d said Lill, a former national road champion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m really proud of Candice who is racing in a multistage event of this calibre for the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He said they decided to put pressure on the other mixed teams early on and knew from the profile that there was a steep climb at about 20km.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe whole stage was new and none of us really knew what was coming, I don\u2019t think.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe went hard up that first climb, got a bit of a lead and consolidated on the plateau on top.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lill said he knew where he wanted to make the stage hard to gain an advantage ahead of the technical sections, which suited both of them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe kept it safe on the descent and still had a decent gap going through the valley on the other side. We just did our best to keep it steady and hopefully open up our lead.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"ipsAttachLink ipsAttachLink_image\" href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-62657-0-85751300-1461776542.jpg\" data-fileid=\"718318\" data-fileext=\"jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-fileid=\"718318\" class=\"ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed\" alt=\"ccs-62657-0-85751300-1461776542.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-62657-0-85751300-1461776542.jpg\" title=\"\"><\/a><span class=\"italic text-sm text-slate-500 block mt-1 mb-4\">Overall leaders of the mixed category, Johan Labuschagne (front) and Catherine Williamson of The Bicycle Company-Bestmed, in action on stage six of the 2016 Old Mutual joBerg2c between Nottingham Road and Glencairn on the Sani Pass road. Photo: Full Stop Communications<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The Robert Daniel pairing of Corrie and Richard Muller continue to lead the veterans\u2019 section (26:12:37), while Cycle Lab\u2019s Greg Anderson and Deon Kruger head the masters\u2019 category (24:33:52). Valencia\u2019s Samantha Sanders and Anriette Schoeman are the women\u2019s leaders (27:29:12).<\/p>\n<p>In the solo category, Calvin Beneke (23:45:58) and Patsy Hime (28:07:15) lead the men\u2019s and women\u2019s sections respectively.<\/p>\n<p>The seventh stage of the 900km race will take riders over 82km to Mackenzie Club at Ixopo.<\/p>\n<p>The nine-day Old Mutual joBerg2c ends in Scottburgh on Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gawie Combrinck and Nico Bell won the all-new sixth stage of the 2016 Old Mutual joBerg2c in emphatic fashion to become the new overall leaders today. The NAD Pro duo looked in imperious form as they left their major rivals in the dust on the daunting 98km ride in the Southern Drakensberg between Nottingham Road [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":43020,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[773,286,774,1305],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-18261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-gawie-combrinck","tag-joberg2c","tag-nico-bell","tag-old-mutual-joberg2c"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18261"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=18261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}