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Lost City Classic
August 27, 2006
Sprinters “Lost” In Lost City Classic
By Bradley Smith
The Powerade Lost City Classic provided the platform for Microsoft’s Nic White to showcase his talent, as the seasoned pro escaped in the final kilometer to clinch a superb victory.
The top local teams were joined on the starting line by team CSC/CVT and the Sharks cycling team. But the 103 km race would prove to be more of a battle than a stroll on the beach for the two coastal teams as the windy conditions turned out to be a major challenge out on the flat roads.
“Even though the wind was strong and it made the racing difficult, the flat route guaranteed that the racing was hard. We rode the first 20 km at a steady pace but shortly after the racing began. Each of the teams were in the front and they took turns launching a series of attacks but the breaks were reeled back everytime”, said Exel’s Nolan Hoffman.
The attacks continued for the better part of the race and after about 60 km, the Microsoft team took advantage of the strong winds and put the race into the gutter. The tactic from the Microsoft squad caused an 11-man break to go clear and they were in the driving seat with 5 riders. The rest of the break was made up of Exel riders, Nolan Hoffman, Rupert Rheeder and Adrian Maaske, Juan van Heerden (ColorPress/Cyclingnews), Jay Thompson (Di-Data) and Hanco Kachelhoffer.
The Microsoft team drove the break and once a sizable lead had opened, the other riders began sharing the workload. However, as the escapees reached the 20 km to go mark, the cat and mouse tactics began. With numbers on their side, Microsoft were doing most of the attacking, leaving the Exel riders and the other individuals to close the gaps.
“In the last 10 km the race it was hard, there was constant attacks from the riders, mainly Microsoft but myself, Rupert and some of the other individual riders also launched a couple. There were times when the race almost came to a standstill and then suddenly there would be huge attack”, added Hoffman.
One of these attacks came in the final kilometer from Nic White and while the likes of Hoffman, Kachelhoffer and van Heerden tried in vain to pull it back, the experienced White took advantage of his slim lead and kept the chasers at bay.
With White claiming top spot, the battle for second place was taken by Thompson while Hoffman clinched the final podium place.
Results
1 Nic White (Microsoft) 2 Jay Thompson (Di-Data) 3 Nolan Hoffman (Exel) 4 Malcolm Lange (Microsoft) 5 Juan van Heerden (ColorPress/Cyclingnews) 6 Daryl Impey (Microsoft) 7 Hanco Kachelhoffer 8 Neil MacDonald (Microsoft) 9 Rupert Rheeder (Exel) 10 Waylon Woolcock (Microsoft)
