Schoeman Wins SA Road Title

Anriette Schoeman (ProLine/SuperCD) racked up yet another win at the SA road Champs in Durbanville in the scorching Sunday afternoon heat, 7 March.

The girls did 4 laps, totaling 96kms, over a very demanding route that included several tough climbs. Not many team tactics were expected to be involved due the severe nature of the route. It seemed like it would be a course for survival of the strongest. In all the previous events, the leading groups were small or individuals strung out for many kilometers.

The first surprise was an attack from Hannelie Booyens (ProLine/SuperCD). After her win at the Cape Epic MTB Challenge that finished just the day before SA Champs, the other teams did not expect for her to take the start line, let alone be a threat to the title. In fact, Hannelie's task was simply one of survival for her team, but she surprised them all. After the first lap, Hanneli, had a gap on the group which had managed to stay snuggly together. Neither Anke Erlank (Microsoft), Di Emery, the Liberty girls, Sub 3, Perc nor any of the other riders started the chase. All with eyes on Anriette, Hannelie was in with a chance. The gap developed to over 2 minutes. However, misfortune struck.. Hannelie had a flat and then her chain dropped twice losing valuable time. Her solo ride was the longest in the history of the SA road Champs, 54kms on her own. Altie Pinaar (Liberty) had set the longest solo ride the previous year riding 50kms by herself and then being caught with only 30metres to the finish line.

It was back to victory for someone in the pack. The games began and the teams started to work for their leaders. 14 girls survived the hills and it was down to the last long climb. Everybody had expected aggressive riding from Anke and her partner, Di Emery, who had flown in the previous night to compete and fight for the title. Yet, there were no dominant moves from these two girls. The pace was kept high up the last climb. An expected, long sprint was launched by Anke, but she faded quickly as Anriette moved through to snap up the SA title for yet another consecutive year. Ronel van Wyk (Liberty) finished in second and a strong surge from Chrissie Viljoen (Tuks/Hypo) plced her in 3rd.

Final results
1. Anriette Schoeman (ProLine/SuperCD) 2. Ronel van Wyk (Liberty) 3. Chrissie Viljoen (Tuks/Hypo)

Article courtesy of SuperCycling