Cycling News and Race Results

In case there was still any doubt, former professional road cyclist, David George, added more confirmation to his complete conversion to dirt when he beat a strong field of seasoned mountain bike racers to win Round 5 of the MTN National Ultra-marathon Series at Mabalingwe in South Africa’s Limpopo Province on Saturday.

The fourth round of the MTN National Marathon Series took place in the quaint little town of Clarens. The venue for the event made for an ideal family getaway weekend to the country side.

The constantly progressive thinking of the organizers of the MTN National MTB Series driven by Nissan, has led to a win-win situation in Clarens.

Ariane Kleinhans (Team Contego/28E) continued her winning ways this past weekend when she won the third race in the MTN XCM national series at Sabie. It was also the first race of the UCI World Series.

Beat Burry Stander (Specialized) and win the MTN Tulbagh ultra-marathon. Seeing that Stander knows only one way of racing, namely from the front, this is most likely what the race on Saturday (18 February) will boil down to.  It is safe to predict that he will attack the first time that the going gets tough.

The fact that Jacques Rossouw (Team Fedgroup-Itec Connect) has made a comeback to pro-elite racing, can be considered to be one of the best things that has happened to South African mountain biking during the past few years.

Thanks to the vision of Fritz Pienaar and Advendurance, talented young mountain bikers in South Africa will get the opportunity during the MTN Sabie Event to test their skills against some of the world's best.

Many years ago a television advertisement featured the statues of the two former arch-enemies, Queen Victoria of England and Paul Kruger, President of the Zuid-Afrikaanse Republiek, in amiable conversation. Paul Kruger, boasting about the speed with which the city of Pretoria was developing, said:  “It’s growing, Viccie, it’s growing!”

MTN has proven itself to be a cycling sponsor that maintains a proactive attitude towards the sport.