Craven, Heymans excel at Giro

Dan Craven and Mannie Heymans of Team Namibia finished 12th and 14th respectively at the Giro del Capo which finished in Cape Town on March 8.

It was the best performances yet by Namibian cyclists at the Giro del Capo, one of Africa’s top cycling events, which consists of five stages in the vicinity of Cape Town and surrounding towns like Paarl and Stellenbosch. The Giro, which took place for the 16th consecutive year, has developed into one of the top events on the African cycling calendar and draws some of the world’s top professional teams.Heymans also created history by becoming the only cyclist to have completed all the Giros since its inception in 1992.The overall winner of the five-day stage race was the Austrian Christian Pfannberger of Team Barloworld, who completed the event in a combined time of 14 hours 38 minutes and 50 seconds.His Barloworld teammate Christopher Froome came second, 1:41 behind, while Jacques Janse van Rensburg of Team Neotel came third 1:47 behind.Craven came 12th, 11:26 behind the leader, while Heymans came 14th, 13:16 behind the leader.The only other Namibian to finish the race was Marc Bassingthwaighte, who finished in 71st position, 43:20 behind the leader.Namibia’s three other cyclists, Arno Viljoen, Ananias Ananias and Lotto Petrus, all retired earlier and couldn’t complete the race.TEAM NAMIBIA FINISH NINTH In the team competition, Namibia could not match their performance of last year when they came seventh overall, as they finished ninth out of 22 teams this year.Team Barloworld won the team category, followed by MTN and Kuota-Senges.Team Namibia was the first national team, with Team Belgium coming 13th and Team Denmark 17th overall.Craven’s best performance came on Stage Three when he finished in the leading bunch.In a sprint to the line he finished sixth, but was awarded the same time as the leaders.Craven once again excelled in Stage Four, finishing 10th overall, only 38 seconds behind the leader.The final stage on Saturday, March 8 consisted of a 5,5km hill climb up Signal Hill.David George of Team MTN won the hill climb in 12:35, followed by Dominique Cornu of the Belgian national team and Pfannberger.Craven finished in 36thposition, 1:29 behind George; Heymans came 58th, 2:02 behind and Bassingthwaighte came 100th, 3:01 behind.www.namibiasport.com.naThe Giro, which took place for the 16th consecutive year, has developed into one of the top events on the African cycling calendar and draws some of the world’s top professional teams.Heymans also created history by becoming the only cyclist to have completed all the Giros since its inception in 1992.The overall winner of the five-day stage race was the Austrian Christian Pfannberger of Team Barloworld, who completed the event in a combined time of 14 hours 38 minutes and 50 seconds.His Barloworld teammate Christopher Froome came second, 1:41 behind, while Jacques Janse van Rensburg of Team Neotel came third 1:47 behind.Craven came 12th, 11:26 behind the leader, while Heymans came 14th, 13:16 behind the leader.The only other Namibian to finish the race was Marc Bassingthwaighte, who finished in 71st position, 43:20 behind the leader.Namibia’s three other cyclists, Arno Viljoen, Ananias Ananias and Lotto Petrus, all retired earlier and couldn’t complete the race.TEAM NAMIBIA FINISH NINTH In the team competition, Namibia could not match their performance of last year when they came seventh overall, as they finished ninth out of 22 teams this year.Team Barloworld won the team category, followed by MTN and Kuota-Senges.Team Namibia was the first national team, with Team Belgium coming 13th and Team Denmark 17th overall.Craven’s best performance came on Stage Three when he finished in the leading bunch.In a sprint to the line he finished sixth, but was awarded the same time as the leaders.Craven once again excelled in Stage Four, finishing 10th overall, only 38 seconds behind the leader.The final stage on Saturday, March 8 consisted of a 5,5km hill climb up Signal Hill.David George of Team MTN won the hill climb in 12:35, followed by Dominique Cornu of the Belgian national team and Pfannberger.Craven finished in 36thposition, 1:29 behind George; Heymans came 58th, 2:02 behind and Bassingthwaighte came 100th, 3:01 behind.www.namibiasport.com.na