Top racing in Tour de Windhoek's five stages

The highly popular annual Pupkewitz Megabuild Tour de Windhoek road cycling race kicked off on a high note yesterday with the prologue, before the five serious stages over three days in and around the capital.Yesterday’s prologue in a short, straight sprint of 1.6 kilometres on the B1 highway would determine who will wear the yellow jerseys this morning for the first stage at Teufelsschlucht over 120 kilometres (men’s teams) or 80 km (women’s teams and Tour de Windhoek Light individual entries).Today at 16:00, the second stage will present a stiff hill climb over six km with vertical elevation of 243 metres on the Kupferberg Pass. Here the specialist climbers should be able to earn valuable points, with the King of the Mountains title and prize money also at stake.On Saturday morning, the men will be first in line for stage three’s 98 km, which will be driven at a killer pace. The women will leave ten minutes later for their 68 km.The fourth stage tomorrow is the popular criterium around the block from Pupkewitz Megabuild to Snyman Circle and back to the start and finish line, a loop of 1.7 km. The women start at 16:20 with their race of 30 minutes and then one final lap. The men will compete over 40 minutes plus a final lap.On Sunday morning at 07:15, the men restart their engines for the fifth and final stage of 77.5 km, mainly on the Matchless and Daan Viljoen road, with a total elevation of 728 metres. The women conclude their tour with the last 57.5 km stage, climbing a total of 461 metres.Who will be competing?Among the elite men, Namibia is represented by Team Hollard, Cymot Racing, Mannies Bike Mecca (MBM), NCCS-Cymot, Pupkewitz Megabbuild and APCA Lumber City. Two teams from Angola (JT300 and GD Interclub), two from South Africa (TEG Procycling and Team on Track) as well as CCL Blanchinet from Reunion are gearing up to challenge the home nation.The Namibian elite women's teams are Hollard, Pupkewitz Megabuild, Cymot Racing and Mannies Sport Lab (MSL). From South African comes Customized Cycling Pirtek, while Reunion is represented by CCSL SoVeto.Team Hollard is fueled by Drikus Coetzee (last year’s individual tour winner), Adrian Key, Jacques Hanekom, Clinton Hilfiker, Danzel de Koe and Martin Freyer.Pupkewitz Megabuild's riders are Christo Swartz, JG van der Westhuizen, Theuns van der Westhuizen, André Cornelissen, Murray Koch and Gino Chiappini.The Hollard Ladies are Melissa Hinz (2023 individual champion), Anri Greeff, Chrystal Freyer, Anneke Steenkamp and Lelani Swart.The Cymot Racing Ladies also look potent with Robyn-Lee Swartz, Olivia Shililifa, Nicola Fester, Jaen-Marie Mostert and Monique du Plessis.The Pupkewitz Megabuild Ladies are represented in the saddle by Courtney Liebenberg, Michelle Döman, Ainsli de Beer, Marli Labuschagne and Jana von Backstrom.Besides the yellow jersey to be worn by the race leader, riders for the polka-dot jersey (king of the mountain) and green jersey (sprinters) will face each other. For the best young rider there is a white jersey and the best Namibian rider will wear red. – tielman@republikein.com.na

Top racing in Tour de Windhoek's five stages

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Republikein 2025-04-07

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Top racing in Tour de Windhoek's five stages

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Republikein 2025-04-07

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