Miller wins Cycle Classic by seven milliseconds

Young and old showed their support for the Paratus Namibian Cycle Classic road race yesterday, with an enthusiastic group of Paralympian riders also showing what they are made of.

At the front of the men’s 100 kilometre road race, Alex Miller and Drikus Coetzee broke away early and rode together all the way, finishing in a sprint over the line at the main gate of the Hage Geingob Rugby Stadium in Olympia.

In a photo finish it was determined that Miller had his wheel just slightly ahead of Coetzee by only seven milliseconds. Even before the official announcement Coetzee had graciously agreed that Miller, one of his fierce rivals on the local scene, had probably clinched the victory and that he had thoroughly enjoyed the good sportsmanship on the road.

Behind them the chasing bunch got into a sprint finish of their own, with less than a second separating Brandon Plaatjies, ingram Cuff, Gerhard Breed and Danzel de Koe.

Yesterday’s top overall results:

100 km men (road race)

1 Alex Miller (elite) 2:23:46.327.

2 Drikus Coetzee (subveteran) 2:23:46.334.

3 Brandon Plaatjies (elite) 2:38:15.431.

4 Ingram Cuff (veteran) 2:38:15.632.

5 Gerhard Breed (subveteran) 2:38:15.760.

6 Danzel de Koe (elite) 2:38:15.761.

7 Xavier Papo (elite)

8 Jurgen Sander (subveteran)

100 km women (road race)

1 Melissa Hinz (elite) 2:57:00.85

2 Genevieve Weber (veteran) 2:57:01.55

3 Risa Dreyer Burger (subveteran) 2:27:17.23

4 Monique du Plessis (elite) 3:01:59

5 Belinda van Rhyn (subveteran) 3:03:53

6 Irene Steyn (veteran) 3:03:54

7 Monique Tylor (elite) 3:05:56

8 Olivia Shililifa (elite) 3:05:56

• On Saturday, Miller also won the Paratus Namibian Cycle Classic mountain biking race against De Koe, Papo (third) and Christo Swartz (fourth).

Monique du Plessis won the women’s MTB race ahead of Genevieve Weber, Irene Steyn (third) and Nicola Fester (fourth).