Namibia: Celliers Wins Cycling Finale

31 March 2011

Jacques Celliers of team Oakley/USN was the overall winner of the Windhoek Pedal Power (WPP) cycling series after the final leg of the series was held on Saturday.

The finale of the WPP series was hosted this past weekend on the outskirts of Windhoek.

The series went down to the wire and was decided on the last race day when competitors lined up for a 22km Time Trial and a 5km Hill Climb.

Both races are often referred to as the ‘Race of Truth’ as neither permits any rider to draft another and or assist another rider. Each rider needs to complete the race distance without team assistance, and for the majority it boils down to who can suffer the most and which rider can push his body beyond their threshold.

In the elite category both Jacques Celliers (Oakley/ USN) and Ingram Cuff (Toshiba) had everything to race for as the winner would be crowned the WPP Series champion.

Celliers, known for his time trialling ability won the time trial in a time of 29 minutes 38 seconds while eventual Veterans winner Nick du Plessis clocked 30:44 to finish the Time Trial in second place. The surprise of the day was the junior Till Drobisch (NMC) who finished third in 31:36.

Vera Adrian (Toshiba) won the Junior Women’s age group convincingly and again showed why she is currently dominating local cycling events.

Straight after the individual time trial the riders proceeded up to the Daan Viljoen climb where each again started in 30 second intervals to complete the 5km route in the shortest time possible.

Till Drobosch this time showed his class by winning the Hill Climb in a time of 11:15, beating both Jacques Celliers and Ingram Cuff by two seconds. However when combining the two times Jacques Celliers comfortably won the event and in doing so also clinched the WPP Series.

For most Namibian cyclists its time to get their Mountain Bikes out with an action packed Mountain Bike season lying ahead. The next big event on the calendar is the Otjiwa MTB Challenge on 9 and 10 April.

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