Africa-Press – Namibia. XAVIER Papo won his second successive race in the Nedbank WPP series when he beat a strong field in a sprint to the line on the Dordabis road on Sunday.
After winning the first leg of the series on 23 January, Papo of Team RMB Elite once again emerged victorious when he beat a pack of more than 10 cyclists in a powerful sprint to the line.
The top 10 cyclists all finished in two hours 24 minutes three seconds, with Papo followed by Daniel Abraham (Team Mannie’s Bike Mecca), Gerhard Mans (Simonis Storm powered by Hollard), Alex Miller (Pupkewitz Megatech), and Drikus Coetzee and Ingram Cuff of Simonis Storm powered by Hollard.
It was a great ride by Papo who was still a bit dumbfounded with his victory after the race.
“It was excellent – once again I can’t believe that I won, but I was just determined to go with the top guys today. I’m very excited that I won the second race in a row now,” he said.
“JP (Burger) made a break at the turnaround point, but Alex (Miller) and I chased the whole way and caught them about 20km from the finish. Then Alex and Drikus (Coetzee) made another break, but I chased them down again until we got to the sprint finish and then I took the win again,” he added, saying that he was very happy with his sprinting form.
“I’m very excited and very happy with my sprint – it’s the first time that I’m actually beating top sprinters like Alex, Drikus and Gerhard (Mans). Now I’ll just see what happens at the national championships next weekend – I don’t want to talk much before the race, because one never knows what can happen.”
Simonis Storm powered by Hollard has now taken the lead in the team competition after the first two legs of the series with a total of 42 points, while RMB Elite are just behind on 41, and Pupkewitz Megatech third on 39 points.
Vera Looser, riding for the Mannie’s Bike Mecca (MBM) team, was a comfortable winner of the Elite Women’s race in 2:19:26, finishing well ahead of team mate Courtney Liebenberg (2:21:07).
They were followed by three Team Food Lovers Market riders, namely Melissa Hinz (2:21:08), Anri Krugel (2:21:09) and Michelle Doman (2:26:04).
Looser said it was a good team effort.
“We broke away at the turnaround point, and later it was only Courtney and I up against Melissa Hinz, so we attacked her and eventually got away. It was a real team effort, so I’m proud of my team because we did a good job,” she said.
The MBM Ladies team now leads the women’s team competition on 26 points, followed by the Food Lover’s Market Ladies team on 23 and the Cymot Racing Ladies team on 16 points.
Andre Vermeulen won the Open Men’s category in 2:01:06, followed by Gerhard Breed (2:01:52) and Allan Vivier (2:06:23), while Lotte Beulker won the Open Women’s category in 2:06:24, followed by Bev Henckert (2:17:24) and Hilde-Marie Olivier (2:26:17).
The complete results are available at raceday.events
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