Miller adds Tankwa Trek to winning portfolio
Mountain biking
The Namibian has collected one individual and one team victory since joining his new professional team.
Alex Miller, two weeks after his individual triumph in the 121 km one-day Attakwas Extreme race near Oudtshoorn, celebrated more success as Matt Beers’ new Toyota Specialized teammate when the pair won the Momentum Medical Scheme Tankwa Trek in the Western Cape.
In South Africa’s premier four-day mountain bike team race, Beers backed up his 2023 winning effort by securing three stage victories en route to the 2024 title, alongside new teammate Miller.
The South African/Namibian combination stood on top of the podium on Sunday. A stacked UCI men’s field pushed up a fierce battle this year, which reinforced the level of Toyota Specialized’s performance across the four days.
“This was my fourth Tankwa Trek,” Miller said afterwards. “It was definitely my best one yet; it was great racing with Matt and taking the victory. We managed to nab the yellow after the prologue and then build up a buffer the following days.
“I love racing here; the trails are incredible and everyone – from Momentum and Dryland Event Management – to the route marshals go the extra mile for the riders. We really appreciate it!”
Beers and Miller had got the race off to a perfect start on Thursday, by winning the 26 kilometre opening stage. KMC-Ridley’s Gunnar Holmgren and Martins Blums placed second on Stage 1, but then endured a difficult middle two days of the four-day race.
On Saturday’s Queen Stage (96 km), Beers and Miller conquered SA mountain biking’s most imposing climb to win the King of the Mountain hotspot prize, on their way to edging out Marco Joubert and Wessel Botha to secure stage honours too.
The Merino Monster’s ascent to 1 799 meters above sea level, challenged the teams to 1 000 metres of elevation gain over 20 odd kilometres. Beers bettered the Dane Sebastian Fini’s 2020 King of the Mountain record, by 23 seconds. Miller also went faster than the previous record.
Stage 4 on Sunday was a showdown between the leading teams hoping to maintain their positions and the KMC-Ridley squad who would go all-in to regain their podium place.
“I actually, to be honest, got a bit angry this morning,” Beers confessed. “In the early morning light, the dust the group was kicking up made it difficult to see. There was also lots of jostling in the peloton, so I decided to attack, as off the front was the safest place to be.”
This move saw Toyota Specialized take an advantage of a handful of seconds into the first singletrack climb.
“Matt and Alex were about 10 or 15 seconds ahead of us going into the first climb and we were only able to bridge across on the descent,” Holmgren said. “We raced the rest of the stage as hard as we could, but with all the singletrack there wasn’t really an opportunity to make back the time we needed to.”
“My legs were a bit sleepy this morning,” Botha laughed. “The plan had been to go on the attack – but after the Merino Monster, yesterday – that wasn’t actually possible. My legs came back to me after about 20 kilometres and we tried to catch the leaders, but just couldn’t.”
“It’s great to see the standard of South African mountain biking levelling up every year,” Beers added, praising his local rivals.
In the final kilometres KMC-Ridley ensured they led into the single-tracks which put them in pole position to win the sprint for the final stage victory. Beers and Miller sat up behind them, once the opportunity to complete a clean sweep of stages had been denied to them.
Their second place on the day only cost them 4 seconds to a team 13 minutes behind them on the general classification standings. As a result, Toyota Specialized’s overall margin of victory was 4 minutes and 8 seconds over Joubert and Botha.
MEN’S GENERAL CLASSIFICATION RESULT AFTER STAGE 4:
1 Toyota Specialized: Alex Miller & Matthew Beers (10:29:16)
2 Imbuko Pro Cycling: Marco Joubert & Wessel Botha (10:33:24 / 4:08)
3 Bulls Mavericks: Simon Schneller & Axel Roudil-Cortinat (10:40:40 / 10:07)
WOMEN’S GENERAL CLASSIFICATION RESULT AFTER STAGE 4:
1 Cannondale Factory Racing: Candice Lill & Mona Mitterwallner (12:43:11)
?2 KMC Ridley: Janika Loiv & Yana Belomoina (12:52:06 / 8:55)
3 Efficient Infiniti Insure: Vera Looser & Danielle Strydom (13:02:42 / 19:31)
– Abridged from treadmtb.co.za
In South Africa’s premier four-day mountain bike team race, Beers backed up his 2023 winning effort by securing three stage victories en route to the 2024 title, alongside new teammate Miller.
The South African/Namibian combination stood on top of the podium on Sunday. A stacked UCI men’s field pushed up a fierce battle this year, which reinforced the level of Toyota Specialized’s performance across the four days.
“This was my fourth Tankwa Trek,” Miller said afterwards. “It was definitely my best one yet; it was great racing with Matt and taking the victory. We managed to nab the yellow after the prologue and then build up a buffer the following days.
“I love racing here; the trails are incredible and everyone – from Momentum and Dryland Event Management – to the route marshals go the extra mile for the riders. We really appreciate it!”
Beers and Miller had got the race off to a perfect start on Thursday, by winning the 26 kilometre opening stage. KMC-Ridley’s Gunnar Holmgren and Martins Blums placed second on Stage 1, but then endured a difficult middle two days of the four-day race.
On Saturday’s Queen Stage (96 km), Beers and Miller conquered SA mountain biking’s most imposing climb to win the King of the Mountain hotspot prize, on their way to edging out Marco Joubert and Wessel Botha to secure stage honours too.
The Merino Monster’s ascent to 1 799 meters above sea level, challenged the teams to 1 000 metres of elevation gain over 20 odd kilometres. Beers bettered the Dane Sebastian Fini’s 2020 King of the Mountain record, by 23 seconds. Miller also went faster than the previous record.
Stage 4 on Sunday was a showdown between the leading teams hoping to maintain their positions and the KMC-Ridley squad who would go all-in to regain their podium place.
“I actually, to be honest, got a bit angry this morning,” Beers confessed. “In the early morning light, the dust the group was kicking up made it difficult to see. There was also lots of jostling in the peloton, so I decided to attack, as off the front was the safest place to be.”
This move saw Toyota Specialized take an advantage of a handful of seconds into the first singletrack climb.
“Matt and Alex were about 10 or 15 seconds ahead of us going into the first climb and we were only able to bridge across on the descent,” Holmgren said. “We raced the rest of the stage as hard as we could, but with all the singletrack there wasn’t really an opportunity to make back the time we needed to.”
“My legs were a bit sleepy this morning,” Botha laughed. “The plan had been to go on the attack – but after the Merino Monster, yesterday – that wasn’t actually possible. My legs came back to me after about 20 kilometres and we tried to catch the leaders, but just couldn’t.”
“It’s great to see the standard of South African mountain biking levelling up every year,” Beers added, praising his local rivals.
In the final kilometres KMC-Ridley ensured they led into the single-tracks which put them in pole position to win the sprint for the final stage victory. Beers and Miller sat up behind them, once the opportunity to complete a clean sweep of stages had been denied to them.
Their second place on the day only cost them 4 seconds to a team 13 minutes behind them on the general classification standings. As a result, Toyota Specialized’s overall margin of victory was 4 minutes and 8 seconds over Joubert and Botha.
MEN’S GENERAL CLASSIFICATION RESULT AFTER STAGE 4:
1 Toyota Specialized: Alex Miller & Matthew Beers (10:29:16)
2 Imbuko Pro Cycling: Marco Joubert & Wessel Botha (10:33:24 / 4:08)
3 Bulls Mavericks: Simon Schneller & Axel Roudil-Cortinat (10:40:40 / 10:07)
WOMEN’S GENERAL CLASSIFICATION RESULT AFTER STAGE 4:
1 Cannondale Factory Racing: Candice Lill & Mona Mitterwallner (12:43:11)
?2 KMC Ridley: Janika Loiv & Yana Belomoina (12:52:06 / 8:55)
3 Efficient Infiniti Insure: Vera Looser & Danielle Strydom (13:02:42 / 19:31)
– Abridged from treadmtb.co.za
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