Exciting National Cycling Champs in store 

Top-class racing can be expected when Namibia’s leading cyclists line up for the Nedbank Namibian National Cycling Championships this weekend.

The national time trial championships take place tomorrow, starting at 15h00 on the Dr Hage Geingob Freeway about 10km before the Hosea Kutako International Airport, with the elite men covering 42km and the elite women 28km.

The national road race championships take place on Sunday, starting at 06h30 at the same venue at the Ongolo Bridge turnoff, with the elite men covering 145km and the women 85km.

In the elite men’s category, defending champion Alex Miller should be the odds-on favourite to retain his title for the third year in a row.

Last year, he dominated the national road race championships, beating Martin Freyer by nearly 10 minutes to the line, but Freyer, who won the national title in 2018, has been in hot form lately and is expected to offer a stronger challenge this time round.

Over the weekend, he came fifth in the Al Salam Championship Desert Race, across the Al Marmoom Desert in Dubai, which attracted a large field of cyclists from more than 40 nations.

Daan Soete of Belgium, who won the Girona leg of the UCI Gravel World Series last year, won the race, while Coen Vermeltfoort of The Netherlands came second, Jason Osborne of Germany third, and Reinhardt Geyser of South Africa fourth.

Another top contender, Drikus Coetzee, who won the national title in 2021 and 2022, was a late withdrawal after he suffered several injuries in crashes during the Race Around Rwanda ultra-marathon last weekend.

His setbacks already started early in the race when he collided with a civilian carrying a big load with crates of onions on his bicycle.

“He was coming down the wrong side of the road,while I was going up against the rising sun. The crash caused damage to my right quad, but I pushed on and raced from the front, leading through checkpoints one and two and into the night, feeling committed,” Coetzee said yesterday.

More misfortune struck when his handlebars came loose, and at about the halfway stage of the 1 000km race he crashed heavily on a wet and rocky descent, injuring his left quad, his knee, his head and his right wrist, and although he tried to continue, he eventually had to withdraw from the race.

It was a big blow for Coetzee, who confirmed he would now also miss the national championships.

“Unfortunately, I won‘t be able to race due to a crack in a bone in my wrist. The Race Around Rwanda was my main aim, and I had no expectations for the nationals, but it is definitely disappointing not to be part of it and missing out on a chance to potentially win the national title,” he said.

Another former national champion, Tristan de Lange could also be in the running for honours, while several of the u23 riders like Roger Suren, Theuns van der Westhuizen, Jaques Hanekom and Justus Beulker could make an impact among the seniors.

HOT FAVOURITE AMONG WOMEN

Among the elite women, Anri Greeff will be the hot favourite to retain the title in the absence of multiple winner Vera Looser, who is competing in the Tankwa Trek stage race in South Africa.

Looser has won the national title a record 12 times, including 11 years in a row between 2014 and 2024, but also competed at the Tankwa Trek last year when Greeff won the title for the first time.

Greeff has improved a lot over the past year or two, becoming a strong challenger to Looser’s supremacy.

At the 2025 Khomas 100 Africa Gravel Championships she lost out to Looser by a split second, while at this year’s Nedbank WPP series, she beat Looser in a sprint in the first leg, while Looser won the sprint in the second leg.

Other cyclists who could make an impact in the elite women’s category include Louis Breed, Olivia Shililifa and Monique du Plessis.

The promising Delsia Janse van Vuuren (19), who won the third leg of the Nedbank WPP series on 25 January when Greeff got a flat tyre, will be riding in the u23 category for the first time and could also make an impact.

The junior men’s category also promises to be very competitive with several exciting prospects like Marco Thiel, Nathan Chase, Theodor Janse van Vuuren, Sean Lowe, Julius Braun, Mike Baartman and Gero Friederich in the mix for honours.

The general secretary of the Namibian Cycling Federation, Elanor Grassow, says preparations are going well, while cyclists can collect their race numbers today between 17h00 and 18h00 at the Nedbank Campus ground floor lobby.

“We are on track with our preparations, and we expect over 120 cyclists to register and participate in this event. We will make sure the safety of riders is taken care of with the help of a police escort, and we urge road users to be patient with the riders during the race,” she says.

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