Matthys Beukes came back from a tough first half to chase down the leaders and snatch a surprise victory in the 80km Extreme mountain bike race at Addo just outside Port Elizabeth on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Beukes (Contego-Giant), who last won The Herald VW Cycle Tour in 2008 when it was a 65km event, proved he could go the distance in scorching conditions, crossing the line in 3:01:18.<\/p>\n
Matthys Beukes (Contego-Giant) celebrates his second victory in The Herald VW Cycle Tour mountain bike race. Beukes won the 80km Extreme challenge in scorching conditions in Addo on Saturday. <\/em><\/span>Photo: Coetzee Gouws\/fullstop<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n After riding off the front for most of the race, African cross-country champion Philip Buys (Scott) outsprinted James Reid (Trek) by a single second to claim the runner-up spot in 3:02:55.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, local rider and Tour de France veteran John-Lee Augustyn (Mecer-NMMU) demonstrated an encouraging return to form following a prolonged injury lay-off to finish a credible fifth.<\/p>\n Candice Neethling (BMC-SA) made it two in a row when she claimed an emphatic victory in the women\u2019s race in 3:26:38. Sweden\u2019s Jennie Stenerhag followed in 3:34:18, with Mariske Strauss (Contego-Giant) placing third in 3:40:40.<\/p>\n Beukes is showing good early season form with a top-10 finish in the Attakwas ultra-marathon near Oudtshoorn in January and a second place at the MTN national marathon series race in Barberton last weekend.<\/p>\n \u201cToday, for the first half, my legs were just flat,\u201d said Beukes. \u201cI dropped off and eventually couldn\u2019t even see the leaders any more.<\/p>\n \u201cAt about halfway I stopped for water and that must have helped me because my legs came right.\u201d<\/p>\n The tenacious 25-year-old fought his way back to the front bunch, eventually catching and passing Augustyn in the vicinity of the Zuurberg Pass, after the latter was dropped by Buys and Reid.<\/p>\n International pro rider and local favourite John-Lee Augustyn (Mecer-NMMU) managed a top-five finish in his comeback race at the 80km Extreme mountain bike challenge, which forms part of The Herald VW Cycle Tour, in Addo on Saturday. <\/em><\/span>Photo: Coetzee Gouws\/fullstop<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n After 60 kilometres of hard riding, Beukes finally caught up with the two leaders.<\/p>\n \u201cI knew I was feeling fresher than them, so I kicked on the last hill and attacked with about seven kilometres to go.\u201d<\/p>\n After opening up a small gap through the citrus orchards, the Oudtshoorn-based rider looked back, only to see his two chasers go down in a crash after clipping handlebars.<\/p>\n Buys and Reid recovered quickly and chased hard but Beukes managed to hold his now almost two-minute lead to the finish.<\/p>\n He praised the new course, which includes parts of the national mountain bike and cross-country championship route. \u201cThere\u2019s lots of flowing single track, so you have to be skilled. It brings in the true elements of mountain biking.\u201d<\/p>\n Defending champion Candice Neethling (BMC-SA) made it two in a row when she claimed victory in the 80km Extreme mountain bike challenge in Addo on Saturday. The race forms part of The Herald VW Cycle Tour. <\/em><\/span>Photo: Coetzee Gouws\/fullstop<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Women\u2019s race winner Neethling said the new route had suited her strengths as a cross-country rider.<\/p>\n \u201cLuckily I had practised on it during the week, so that was a big advantage because there are so many corners and it\u2019s really technical.\u201d<\/p>\n Knowing that her nearest rivals would be unfamiliar with the course, the 20-year-old Port Shepstone rider attacked on the first single track section.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t really see them again and just kept it steady till the end.\u201d<\/p>\n Provisional results:<\/strong><\/p>\n 80km Extreme (Men)<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. Matthys Beukes 3:01:18<\/p>\n 2. Philip Buys 3:02:55<\/p>\n 3. James Reid 3:02:56<\/p>\n 4. Darren Lill 3:09:09<\/p>\n 5. John-Lee Augustyn 3:09:31<\/p>\n 80km Extreme (Women)<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. Candice Neethling 3:26:38<\/p>\n 2. Jennie Stenerhag 3:34:18<\/p>\n 3. Mariske Strauss 3:40:40<\/p>\n 4. Ischen Stopforth 3:40:41<\/p>\n 5. Catherine Wiliamson 4:05:46<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Matthys Beukes came back from a tough first half to chase down the leaders and snatch a surprise victory in the 80km Extreme mountain bike race at Addo just outside Port Elizabeth on Saturday. Beukes (Contego-Giant), who last won The Herald VW Cycle Tour in 2008 when it was a 65km event, proved he could […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-22068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-events"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22068","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\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22068\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22068"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=22068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}