![\"Kevin](\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-2-0-07216000-1328518875.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nFormer champion Kevin Evans (Nedbank 360Life) takes his second victory in The Herald VW Cycle Tour\u2019s 80km Extreme mountain bike race in Addo just outside Port Elizabeth on Saturday. Photo: Marc Sing Key<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cPE is where I started my mountain biking career so it\u2019s always satisfying to get a win here,\u201d said Evans, who lives in Plettenberg Bay.<\/p>\n Despite the swampy conditions on the day, the 33-year-old adopted an attacking strategy from the outset in what rapidly became a race of attrition.<\/p>\n \u201cI had the mindset that in these conditions you\u2019re either going to give it or you\u2019re going to take it. I was quite happy to put myself in the front rather than be on the receiving end.\u201d<\/p>\n He set a fast tempo early in the race and succeeded in splitting the large bunch on the first hill.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were about five of us who got a gap and it came back together on the climb up the Zuurberg Pass.\u201d<\/p>\n Halfway up Evans and Reid intensified their efforts, forcing team-mates Rossouw and Brandon Stewart to follow.<\/p>\n Then an attack by Reid saw Stewart drop off the pace as the leaders went over the top to the turning point at the Zuurberg Hotel.<\/p>\n \u201cComing back down the pass, Brandon and Dave Morison (Blend Properties Group) caught us again. But then on the next piece of single track, which was quite muddy and downhill, we were away again.\u201d<\/p>\n With the inclement weather forcing organisers to swap large sections of single-track for gravel road, an extra 30km loop was added to make up the original distance.<\/p>\n Evans took the lead at the start of the loop and Stewart lost touch as he missed a turn-off. \u201cThen it was just Jacques, James and myself from there.\u201d<\/p>\n After losing Reid on a climb in the final 20km stretch, Evans and Rossouw worked together to the finish.<\/p>\n \u201cI think I\u2019ve lost this race a few too many times on that last corner, so I led the sprint out from the road, before you turn onto the field. It worked out for me for a change.\u201d<\/p>\n He said preservation had been a key element in his success.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to look after your equipment and get yourself and your bike to the end. I suppose Jacques and I managed that the best of everyone today.\u201d<\/p>\n Evans\u2019 victory now evens the score between himself and Rossouw after losing to the Cape Town-based professional at the MTN Barberton ultra-marathon a week ago.<\/p>\n