Dominant Performance from Tasol-GT at SA Track Champs
Tasol – GT Pro Cycling Team put in another strong showing at the 2013 SA Track Championships over the past Easter weekend winning 8 National titles in both the Elite and Junior ranks.
Nolan Hoffmann and Jevandre Pauls won three events each while Kellan Gouveris surprised the velodrome to win the Elite 40km points race. The team pursuit of Hoffmann, Pauls, Gouveris and James Perry went on to win the 4000m event in a time of 4min33 in what was not the most attractive team pursuits to watch.
Pauls undoubtedly was one of the talks of the championships with the very dominant performance by the East London based youngster. Just one month ago the 17yr old won the SA Road Championships in Nelspruit. Two days before the SA Track Champs he won the final stage of the 5 day Junior tour again on the hilly terrain in Nelspruit.
“We were a bit worried about how he would go on the track as all he managed to do was two days on the track ahead of the champs.” said Team Principal, Dean Edwards.
Pauls went on to win 5 out of 6 events in the Junior Omnium giving him his first gold of the champs. He then went on to win the 15km Scratch Race and the 30km Points Race. He finished 2nd in the Junior Elimination race and was part of the Open Team Pursuit which won gold...
Read the full report here
Tasol-GT prepare for their first race of 2013 season
Maree punches above his weight
David Maree (Tasol-GT) yet again showed he is one of the most versatile riders on the SA road scenen at the weekends Engen Dynamic Series in Durban. Maree just 60kgs finished 3rd in yet anmother field sprint of around 30 riders against some of the countries top local sprinters.
PRE-race favourite and defending title-holder, Arran Brown (MTN-Qhubeka), chalked up his 10th victory of the year with a well-judged finishing sprint that saw him cross the line just ahead of Tyler Day (Bonitas) and Maree (Tasol-GT) in yesterday’s third and last leg of the 2012 Engen Dynamic Cycle Challenge Series.
The result was identical to last week’s finishing order in the OFM Cycle Challenge in Bloemfontein and Brown said he was hoping his luck would hold out until next week’s end of season classic, the Momentum 94.7 in Johannesburg which he won last year and also in 2009.
An elated Brown said after the race: “This is a fantastic race, so well organised by Engen and by limiting teams to six riders each making it possible for the smaller professional teams to be competitive.
“This is definitely the way to go. What Engen are doing for elite cycling is not only revolutionary but also exciting.”
Brown has good reason to enjoy coming to Durban, he has won the Engen twice now, last year and this, and also the Amashova twice, in 2009 and 2010.
Maree said his Tasol-GT team were again without their main sprinter, Nolan Hoffman who is campaigning abroad, and this was proving to be a considerable handicap for the team however he was content with yet another podium finish being up agianst big 75+kgs sprinter.
Dylan Williams WINS!
To check out some of the pictures of Dylan's win, visit our Facebook Fan page and click on the Dylan Williams Wins album.
Tasol-GT Race Report 5 Day Clover Tour in Graskop
Full report here - http://tasolgt.co.za/2012/08/13/ups-and-downs-for-tasol-gt-at-clover-tour/
Maree wins KOM competition and finished 3rd on GC
David Maree secured Tasol GT a podium finish at the Le Coq Sportif Cycle Tour outside Rustenburg this week as the 5 stage race came to a end yesterday after the final 78km stage. The team was again in the thick of the action on the stage as Richard Baxter narrowly missed out on a chance to secure a major win for himself when he was beaten on the line by MTN Qhubeka’s Calvin Beneke.
Johann Rabie (Bonitas) claimed overall honors with MTN Qhubeka’s Jacques janse van Rensburg edging out Maree by a mere 7 seconds after the 5 days of racing.
The final stage was controlled mostly by Rabie’s Bonitas teammates when 3 riders broke away early in the stage as none of Richard Baxter, Clint Hendricks (both Tasol GT) and Calvin Beneke (MTN Qhubeka) posed a serious threat to the yellow jersey.
Hendricks had an unfortunate puncture and his team car was stuck behind the main bunch and couldn’t get back to the break away. Calvin Beneke, son of former Rapport tour winner Gary Beneke, then outsprinted Baxter to take the final stage for Team MTN Qhubeka.
Maree who is fast becoming the rider he once was in the junior ranks also claimed the KOM Mountains competition and finished 2nd in the Points Competiton. The team will walk away from the tour with some much needed confidance ahead of it US campaign where the deprt on the 4th July for 3 week and 17 races.
The Tour was considered a great success and much needed event on South Africa’s professional road racing circuit and will hopefully grow into the premier cycling tour in SA.
For full results, visit tasolgt.co.za
U23 Race Report
For the full report, click here
Hoffman/ Brown Rivalry Heats Up
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Maree, 2nd at The Fastone
The relatively flat route provided for fast aggressive racing with the first 30km being raced in just over 40 minutes with numerous attacks from all teams being marked and brought back into the bunch.
40km into the race a crash occurred containing Martin Wesserman (MTN), Richard Baxter and Clint Hendricks ( both Tasol GT) with Wesserman sustaining a broken collarbone while the two Tasol riders were able to mount their bikes and limp to the finish.
50km into the race the elastic snapped as Bradley Potgieter and Reinardt Janse van Rensburg (MTN) rode away along with Ian McCloed (Bonitas). Soon Louis Mentijies (Toyota CSA) managed to bridge and then Maree made the junction across to the break taking with him Herman Fouche (Bonitas), van Heerdan and Brown making up a 8 man decisive group.
With MTN having the numerical advantage in the break which included their 3 top sprinters they found themselves doing the majority of the work up front while in the chasing group it was Westvaal BMC and Cape Town Market who led the chase with the time gap hovering around the 1min mark
5km to go, McCleod attacked with Van Rensburg marking his move. That attack was followed by a counter by Meintjies which again was left up to van Rensburg to cover who then himself put in a counter attack with 800m to go.
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Tasol–GT 2012 Kit
