31/10/2011
Dorfling peaks for championship title
Team bizhub’s Lindi Dorfling won her first National road Championship title on Sunday at the much hyped Msunduzi Road Challenge.
The event, which forms part of the world cycling Tour, was held in Pietermaritzburg over the weekend. The UWCT event also doubled up as the 2011 South African Road Cycling Championships for veterans after several veteran category championships were cancelled at the Port Elizabeth road championships in February this year.
The race started in near perfect weather with all the ladies starting alongside legendary riders, such as Gary Beneke, in the 50+ age category. The first 7km, which twisted through the streets of Pietermaritzburg, was a bit of a concern for the large group of riders with numerous pot holes and debris in the road being a risk for flat wheels.
The first big selection of the day came on the big climb out of Pietermaritzburg, reducing the bunch to around 30 riders including the top few ladies. In the selection were Dorfling of team bizhub and Lynette Burger (Nashua-Toyota) who is the recently crowned Africa Games road race champion.
The heat played a big roll on the day with riders needing to take on lots of drinks to keep hydrated over the very undulating course. With the race toughening up around the 60km mark, Lindi and Lynette saw themselves losing touch with the main bunch.
“I had to pull out all the stops to get back to the bunch” said Lindi. “I was not quite prepared for this type of heat and was not getting to eat on the road. This was wearing me down quickly”. Dorfling managed to pull herself back to the main group, leaving her nearest rival (Lynette) behind.
Fro m the town of Wartburg the main group had not only to contend with the heat but also a strong head wind for the last 40km. “The group was guttering a lot in the last half of the race, but coming from the windy city of Port Elizabeth, I was used to this and was recovering well after taking on some drinks from the service vehicle. The thought that I was the only lady left in the bunch and that I would be putting on the champions jersey, gave me even more strength toward the end”
The final km’s was just a formality for Dorfling to take the 30-34 SA Champs category and to win the gold in the UCI World Tour event. This qualifies Dorfling to compete for the 2012 World Championship final, which will take place over the same route.
“This was a win that I was working towards for the whole season” said Dorfling after her victory “It was a big dissapointment for me after our race was cancelled in PE earlier this season so today nothing was going to stop me.
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