Tyronne White showed his protégés how it is done as the veteran cycling coach led home a phalanx of team members in the aQuellé Tour Durban MTB powered by Cycle Lab on Saturday.
The 40km race, which started and finished near Cornubia Mall, was dominated by White (pictured above) and riders he coaches, and he led home a DriveTrain Academy clean-sweep of the top four positions. Josh Paul ended second, just over two minutes behind, with pre-race favourite and defending champion Daniel van der Watt third, and Luke Pretorius fourth. Deon Verwey completed the five-rider podium and was the only rider not wearing the distinctive green colours.
The women’s race was also a triumph for DriveTrain, with young Madison Bateson, riding the 40km for the first time after winning the 20km last year, produced the shock of the day. She edged out last year’s winner, Sandton City Cycle Nation’s Joanna Van De Winkel.
Van de Winkel was leading until she missed a turn marker and was never able to make up about three minutes she lost in the race to the finish.
White, and three youngsters – Paul, Van der Watt and Josh Johnson – made an early break before Van der Watt managed to eke out a small advantage. Johnson punctured, reducing the chasing trio to White and Paul, who managed to get ahead of the defending champion over the second half of the course.
Paul was not able to hold the pace of his coach in the race to the line and he ended up two minutes behind, with Van der Watt just over two minutes further back. Pretorius held off a chasing Verwey to keep the DriveTrain on track for their 1-2-3-4 sweep.
“It is such a nice race,” said White after crossing the line. “It is a hard race and a bit of a different kind of race because you are hard on the pedals the whole way. My average power for the ride is really high.
Selected off-road results – Saturday
aQuellé Tour Durban MTB powered by Cycle Lab
MTB 40km
1 Tyronne White 01:20:39
2 Joshua Paul 01:22:56
3 Daniel Van Der Watt 01:25:20
4 Luke Braedon Pretorius 01:30:40
5 Deon Verwey 01:32:30
Women
1 Madison Bateson 01:32:39
2 Joanna Van De Winkel 01:36:48
3 Jackie Church 01:58:21
4 Kylie Harborth 02:02:14
5 Michelle Forman 02:02:30
Gravel
Men
1 Siyabonga Khumalo 02:06:17
2 Peet Balfour 02:09:58
3 David Douglas 02:15:54
4 Wilhelm Tesnaar 02:21:14
5 Billy Paterson 02:23:27
Women
1 Sandra Paterson 02:23:27
2 Stephani-Lauren Rowles 02:36:27
3 Sindy Singleton 02:59:34
MTB 20km
Men
1 Asibonge Buleni 01:02:21
2 Adam Brandt 01:05:55
3 Brian Ntokozo Ngcoya 01:10:08
4 Aphelele Mavudla 01:10:46
5 Sphephelo Dlamini 01:10:48
Women
1 Lezaan Gerber 01:13:36
2 Lindiwe Gumede 01:14:58
3 Colbi Chiesman 01:15:13
4 Kanyisa James 01:15:21
5 Rebecca Froneman 01:19:50
