• Cycling

Tour winner Miller nicknamed 'Hilux'

• 3 Weeks Ago 11 November 2024

Namibian national champion Alex Miller came off largely unscathed despite a potentially scary fall during day 2, 0n his way to winning the Wines2Whales Shiraz mountain bike race with his South African team mate Matt Beers.

The Toyota Specialized team clinched each of the three stages and finished more than seven minutes ahead of their nearest opposition on the general classification after Sunday’s stage three of 64 kilometres from Oak Valley Estate to Benguella Cove in the Western Cape.

Miller and Beers showed their impressive power and team work during the first two stages of 66 kilometres each on Friday and Saturday as well.

Miller had a stroke of luck on Saturday as he took a tumble over the top of his handle bar after attempting to cut a corner around a bend, over a hump that had a hidden ditch on the other side.

The 23-year-old two-time Olympian fell on outstretched hands and landed on his right shoulder, but was soon ready to resume and did not pick up an injury that prevented him from concluding the stage and the next day’s race to the finish line.

Afterwards Miller joked in a video that bike-riding children can take a lesson from his “dumb mistake” of cutting a blind corner during a race, while some media dubbed the Toyota Specialized rider “as tough as a Hilux”.

In favourable overcast weather on Sunday, Miller and Beers could afford to ride conservative and nevertheless won stage three by one minute 25 seconds.

South African pair Team Imbuko (Marco Joubert and Wessel Botha) completed the tour in second place, 7 minutes 42 seconds behind the winners.

The third team on the podium – Team Honeycomb Pro Cycling of Tristan Nortje and Namibian-born Marc Pritzen – had a margin of 8 minutes 07 seconds behind Miller and Beers.

A total of 473 teams finished the Shiraz version of the Wines2Whales, which is considered to be the elite version for men, with all the top teams from South Africa as well as international combination taking part.

Belgium’s 28-year-old two-time national champion Wout Alleman combined with his countryman Hans Becking (38) who has been the national champion five times. They had to be content with an overall fifth-place finish.



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In the elite men’s category, Kevin Lowe and Martin Freyer (team Cymot Hollard) experienced technical problems yesterday, but came back strong to finish eight minutes behind Miller and Beers to take 18th overall and 15th in the elite category.

In the Grand Masters Men (50-59 years) and Great Grand Masters Men (60-69 years) categories, Namibian brothers-in-law Piet Swiegers and Frank Snyman also held on to their leads with their respective South African teammates Robert Sim and Jimmy Mills.

“It has been a privilege to be part of such a proper race, and an honour to see Namibian riders creating such a buzz here in South Africa,” said Snyman, who also won his age category during the eight-day Absa Cape Epic earlier this year with Atle Hansen of Sweden as his team mate.

“Jimmy and I (team name Cutter and The Gun) had to handle a determined challenge from French rider Rene Vallee and South African Deon Wilkins, but we were able to put the pressure on them during crucial stages of the race. Jimmy has been brilliant as a partner.

“Over the years of riding the Wines2Whales, parts of the routes have been adapted due to flood damages, but the organisers have succeeded in ensuring constant improvement. Wines2Whales is also part of the Epic series of events, also including Switzerland, the Cape Epic, Croatia and Andorra.”

As winners of the Great Grand Masters Men, Snyman and Mills completed the tour in 10 hours 10 minutes to finish more than 13 minutes ahead of their nearest rivals.

Swiegers and Sim’s total time was 8 hours 50 minutes, which also 13 minutes ahead of their nearest opposition. Known as team Presidential Shirt, they won their age category in each of the three stages – as did Swiegers and Mills.

Namibian brothers Jurgen and Stefan Sander (team Sander Struck) were 29th out of 119 entries in the amateur men’s race (19-39 years).

• In the previous week’s Wines2Whales Pinotage elite women’s race, Namibia’s Vera Looser and South Africa’s Sarah Hill finished second behind the RSA’s winners Candice Lill and Tyler Jacobs.