Underberg – Frederick Rossouw and S’annara Grove emerged as the winners of a dramatic Underberg Gran Fondo gravel cycling race on Saturday after a “scary” crash robbed the spectators of what was developing into a fascinating men’s race.
About halfway through the tough 140km course, race leader Josh Rheeders crashed heavily and ended up unconscious on the road. The chasing group, made up of last year’s winner Tyronne White, Kevin Benkenstein and Warren Moolman, arrived and together with other riders helped Moolman until an ambulance arrived.
“I think it was probably one of the scariest things I’ve come across in my riding career,” said White. “I am just glad Josh is now okay. He was on his back and unconscious when we arrived, but he came around eventually when we were there, and I believe he is now okay.
“Josh was riding really well and he had attacked on the Coleford climb where he built about 20- or 30-seconds lead. Myself, Benky and Warren were slowly working our way back, so we did not actually see him go down, but when we came around the corner he was still clipped into the bike.”
“It was scary, so we stayed with him and he came around eventually. But apparently he’s now okay.”
“We were there for about 35 minutes with Josh, but Frederick stopped and we told him to go on once the ambulance arrived. It was nice for him to get the win. I do not think it would have been fair on Fred to do anything with the results,” added the Drive Train Academy rider.
White, Benkenstein and Bradly Thompson then rode into the finish together, with the results putting White second, Benkenstein third and Thompson fourth in the men’s category.
However, in that group was Grove, who was thus officially fourth overall and a clear winner of the women’s title.
Riding for CJ O’Shea Racing team in England, the current South African road race champion’s time of 5:00:05 was a staggering 41 minutes clear of runner up Rouxda Grobler, with defending champion Sanchia Malan another seven minutes behind.
After finishing just ahead of Grove, White was clearly impressed with the newly crowned women’s champion.
“At the crash she left before us and we caught her with about eight kays to go and she rode in with us,” said White. “She is flipping strong! She was flying … and she stayed with us for ages in the beginning … she rides very well.”
Rossouw said he left the accident and then rode the rest of the way by himself.
“Once the ambulance came I left and stayed away by myself, so I was very chuffed that I managed to stay away,” said the winner.
“I was a few minutes behind the leaders when Josh crashed, but then after I left before them, I expected Tyronne and Kevin to catch me, and I thought I would just keep riding and see if they catch me, and they didn’t.”
SELECTED RESULTS
110km
Male
1 Frederick Rossouw 04:55:03
2 Tyronne White 05:00:00
3 Kevin Benkenstein 05:00:01
4 Bradly Thompson 05:00:05
5 Warren Moolman 05:13:09
Female
1 S’annara Grove 05:00:05
2 Rouxda Grobler 05:41:35
3 Sanchia Malan 05:48:08
4 Robyn Turton 06:34:33
5 Helen Buley 06:40:42
94km
Male
1 Dan Van Hemert 03:16:38
2 Sihle Mlungu 03:19:29
3 Siphesihle Ngcobo 03:25:32
4 Nhlanhla Mthembu 03:27:53
5 Nkululeko Pewa 04:10:13
Female
1 Nadine Nunes 04:45:43
2 Stacey Shaw-Taylor 04:56:39
3 Angela Terwin 05:03:44
4 Catherine Andrew 05:03:45
5 Lorna Backhouse 05:36:48
40km
Male
1 Anele Disani 01:25:44
2 Lwazi Mbonambi 01:25:45
3 Kaleb Nieuwenhuizen 01:37:12
4 Jason Bell 01:37:47
5 Peter Johnston 02:04:25
Female
1 Mariet Swanepoel 02:03:43
2 Erica Anderson 02:09:29
3 Helga Venter 02:13:30
4 Michelle Visser 02:19:21
5 Alison Camp 03:19:16
