Du Plooy and Klopper tops at Tour Durban

DURBAN – Rohan du Plooy and Sonica Klopper came to KwaZulu-Natal and grabbed the honours on Sunday when they were the respective winners of the 100km Invitation Race at the aQuellé Tour Durban in association with Cycle Lab on the Durban beachfront.

Team Fly Cool Collective’s Du Plooy easily outsprinted the remainders of the breakaway group to claim the men’s title from Ryno Schutte (Team Nessa Africa) and Honeycomb 226ers’ Scott Blount.

Klopper led home teammates Megan Botha and Lucy Young for a Tshenolo Womens Pro Cycling team 1-2-3 after the trio were able to stay in the main men’s peleton for all but the last couple of kilometres.

Du Plooy said he enjoyed the race format of two 26km laps and then the action of four fast 12km circuits from Moses Mabhida Stadium to Durban North on the M4.

“It was different … not like we are used to coming from Johannesburg were we do not do too much lap racing,” said the race winner. “It was nice in terms of we know what’s coming up and you can anticipate what’s next … and the spectators can see us for six laps.

“The race was a bit sketchy to start with. I think just because there were so many different abilities of people in one group, but then after the first lap we split the elites away from the rest and it settled down.

“Then a group of about seven of us got away and each lap it was one or two less until the last lap when it was basically just three of us going for the line.

“I’m very happy that our team tactics paid off – we all worked very well together, staying calm and just trying to get the job done, and then I was actually able to win it in the sprint.

“I was surprised there was such a big gap at the end of the sprint. Scott Blount went first and then Ryno tried to close him down, and I think he just did not have the legs, but I had his slipstream to catch Scott. Scott’s legs were also fried and Ryno got around him for second,” added Du Plooy.

The Durban race rounds off a good few months for Schutte who was also on the podium at the Cape Town Cycle Tour last month, and the Dis-Chem Ride for Sight in February, as well as claiming a top five in the SA Champs earlier in February.

The women’s race was a war of tenacity with the three Tshenolo Womens’ team members clinging on to the leading men’s peleton before Klopper edged out her teammates.

“Our plan today was just actually to stick with the men for as long as we could,” said Klopper, as she celebrated with her teammates. “Racing with the men we knew it was going to be really hard – I felt more nervous at the start of this race than I do before any other women’s race.

“We ended up doing what we planned and we kind of had a plan going into the finish that I would take the win – but a win for one of us means we all win.”

The trio’s result also meant they finished fourth overall in the CSA National Inter-Club Challenge – the first time teams have raced for an unofficial national team title. The title was won by Cartime Nextgen Pro Cycling with Kellan Gouveris, Rhys Burrell and Brad Gouveris finishing fourth, fifth and eighth respectively, to just edge out Honeycomb 226ers by eight seconds with Cartime Nextgen’s Academy team finishing third, just ahead of the Tshenolo women’s team.