Dylan Girdlestone sealed his second overall victory in the 151km Bestmed Jock  Cycle Classique in a dramatic two-man sprint in the third and final stage at Mbombela in Mpumalanga on Saturday.    
 
In the dash to the line, the  Westvaal-BMC rider got the better of  MTN-Qhubeka’s Ethiopian climber Alem Grmay to steal the stage and overall wins by a single
second.

After a series of well-timed attacks by Girdlestone, the two broke clear of the group containing the main contenders in sight of the finish at the Mbombela Stadium.

The 23-year-old from Pretoria
completed the 30th edition of what is believed to be South Africa’s
toughest road race in
a combined time of 3:43:02. Westvaal’s Nico Bell
secured the final step on the podium in 3:43:12.

“It feels just as good as the first time I won it,” said an elated Girdlestone. “I’ve always
put the Jock down as one of my goal races because it suits me really well.
“This year’s route was very much  like the old one in that you have a hard final stage with a tough last few  kilometres.

“The trick is to stay protected and if you’ve had the easiest ride there, you’ll have the most power – which is exactly what happened.”

Although Girdlestone’s small five-man outfit was without the services of Tyler and Dusty Day, he said they had raced tactically to be able to compete against the numerically superior teams.

“The plan was for my team-mates to have an easy ride in the first two stages. I said, ‘You can drop  off, just don’t get eliminated’.

“So we went into the last stage all guns  blazing.”

Team Abantu sprinter Nolan Hoffman took the day’s first yellow jersey when he came out tops in a bunch sprint in the 43km opening stage between Mbombela, formerly Nelspruit, and White River.

Hoffman crossed the line in 1:05:08 to edge ahead of MTN-Qhubeka’s Ryan Gibbons and team-mate David Maree.

On stage two, a grippy 45km ride from White River to Sabie, Grmay and team-mate Yohans Getachew took advantage of an
early attack by Europcar’s Paul van Zweel to forge ahead of the front group over the steep 7km Spitskop climb.

They were reeled in less than a kilometre from the finish by a four-man chase group consisting of Bonitas’s Willie Smit, MTN-Qhubeka’s Nicolas Dougall, Van Zweel and Girdlestone.

Grmay held on for the win ahead of Smit and Dougall as the front-runners were all credited with a time of 1:09:40.
With Hoffman distanced on the climbs, yellow went to Smit.

With time gaps almost negligible, it all came down to the 63km final stage between Sabie and Mbombela, which included an 8km ascent of the iconic Long Tom Pass.

Girdlestone, who won the final stage of the Mzansi Tour earlier this year, said the win had given the team renewed confidence ahead of next  month’s Clover Lowveld Tour.

OVERALL RESULTS
Elite Men

1. Dylan Girdlestone (Westvaal-BMC) 3:43:02
2. Alem Grmay (MTN-Qhubeka)  3:43:03
3. Nico Bell (Westvaal/Bell’s Cycling) 3:43:12
4. Nicolas Dougall (MTN-Qhubeka) 3:43:12
5. Paul van Zweel (Europcar) 3:43:12
6. Kevin Patten (ASG) 3:43:22
7. Yohans Getachew (MTN-Qhubeka) 3:43:28
8. Willie Smit (Bonitas) 3:43:44
9. Ryan Gibbons (MTN-Qhubeka) 3:44:41
10. JJ van Wyk (MTN-Qhubeka) 3:44:46

Original post can be found here...

Here is a flashback to 2011 when he rode for MTN... Darryl, today you made us ALL very proud...

Cycling South Africa News

South African 1, 2 at Tour of Rwanda, Lill Takes the Tour Win

26 November 2012 – South Africa’s national road cycling team stuck to their game plan and claimed their first victory at the 2012 Tour of Rwanda when Darren Lill retained the yellow jersey after the seventh stage to claim the overall win with compatriot Dylan Girdlestone finishing in second place. The Tour of Rwanda ended on Sunday in Kigali with a stage of 124,3km.

After starting in Kigali nine days earlier, international teams toured the scenic and hilly Rwandan countryside to span 876 kilometres in total, starting with a Prologue on Sunday 18th November followed by eight stages.

For Lill, who was not feeling up to peak fitness prior to the Tour after recovering from a virus, the victory was a pleasant surprise.

“This was an unexpected win for me,” said the 30-year old from Cape Town. “I went as part of the team to help the younger guys, so to claim the overall victory has come as a surprise!”

Lill captained the 6-man national team to victory in his first Tour of Rwanda. “It was a good tour, with challenging stages, and great terrain, which made for positive racing. There is fantastic talent in Africa, but I think my experience in international racing, and being a mentor to my younger teammates gave our team the edge, especially when we cannot use race radios.”

National team manager for the Tour of Rwanda, Ian Goetham was supremely impressed with the team’s performance on his first international outing with the squad. “We had very good days that were well planned, and we succeeded,” said Goetham. “The team camaraderie was very high, and they all understood the goals of the tour. From stage one, the initial plan was to get the yellow jersey and win the tour.

“It was a brilliant team effort, with each one of the six riders contributing to the team’s success. An overall victory for Darren and a second place for Dylan is an excellent accomplishment. David (Maree) sacrificed a lot to work in front, and Avery (Arendse) and Reynard (Butler), both new to international racing, contributed a lot for us to keep the yellow jersey. Shaun (Ward) kicked off the tour with a stage in the yellow jersey [after his combined efforts of the Prologue and stage one, with Girdlestone only seven seconds behind in the GC at that point]. Darren was an excellent team leader.”

Further to holding the top two positions in the top ten of the final GC (general classification), South Africa also won the Team competition. “Considering that this team spends most of the year representing other teams within the country, they worked very well together as a unit. The quickest times of the top three riders in each stage resulted in a team win for us as well.”

Cycling SA’s road cycling director Hendrik Wagener was very pleased with the results. “We always hope for a win when we send a team to an international event. To have a first and second place in the final overall GC is a great achievement, and gives us a great base to build on in the early stages of our aim to take part in more African events, and of course, some valuable UCI points.”

Summary of Results – 2012 Tour of Rwanda – Overall GC

1. LILL Darren (RSA) 22h43’41’’
2. GIRDLESTONE Dylan (RSA) 22h45’28’’
3. NJOROGE MUYA John (KENYA) 22h45’40’’
4. ATSBHA Getachew (Ethiopia) 22h45’48’’
5. DEBRETSION Aron (Eritrea) 22h46’40’’
6. MERHAWI Kudus (UCC) 22h49’58’’
7. LIPONNE Julien (Rein. Br.) 22h53’01’’
8. ABEBE Alem (ETH) 22h53’34’’
9. NIYONSHUTI Adrien (Rwanda Kalisimbi) 22h54’14’’
10. HABTE Solomon (Eritrea) 22h54’39’’

For further information and results of the Tour of Rwanda, visit http://en.tourofrwanda.com/

ENDS