LOTTO Petrus won the double when he won both the Time Trial and Road Race categories at the National Cycling Championships over the weekend.
The 23-year-old Petrus, who rides professionally for Team MTN in South Africa, comfortably won the Time Trial which took place near Gross Barman on the road to Okahandja on Saturday.He completed the 40km event in a time of one hour, one minute and 40 seconds, at an average speed of 38,92km/h, to finish well ahead of Victor Krohne who came second in 1:08:39, and Frank Adrian who came third in 1:13:13.On Sunday, Petrus won his second gold medal when he finished the 129km Road Race on the outskirts of Windhoek in 3:19:24 at an average speed of 38,82km.The start and finish were about 22km west of Windhoek on top of the mountainous and challenging Daan Viljoen Road. Petrus and Marc Bassingthwaighte broke away from the peloton at the start of the Daan Viljoen hills and about 4km before the end Petrus put in another attack to pull away from Bassingthwaighte.Bassingthwaighte finished second in 3:19:55, while Heiko Redecker came third in 3:22:10. The 20-year-old Redecker also won the Under 23 Men’s Category.Top performances were also shown in the Junior Men’s Category, with Joze Barth crowned as the National Male Champion. He completed the 99km event in 2:40:13, finishing more than four minutes ahead of second placed Matthias Kreft. Barth’s closest rival Till Drobisch could unfortunately not start due to illness.Vera Adrian was in a class of her own in the Women’s races. The 17-year-old won the Junior Women’s race over 85km in a time of 2:41:03, finishing more than 14 minutes ahead of second placed Ane Hoepfner. Adrian also comfortably beat the first Senior Woman Hayley Brand who finished in a time of 2:54:45.More than 50 cyclists participated in the National Time Trial and Road Race. – namibiasport.com.na
