'The Gorge' Race Results
Another section of Tour d'Afrique has been completed and that means new section winners. This section saw rough terrain that had never been cycled through with Tour d'Afrique before. The riders beat down three days of off road between Khartoum to Gondor. The off road section was a defining moment in the race for The Gorge Section title winner. Marcel Van Zwam (Netherlands) experienced 12 punctures on his fast and light cyclecross bicycle through Dinder National Park in South Sudan. Initially this may have set him back in the section but he was able to enjoy the bonus rest day in Gondor and set a blistering pace for his competitors. Completing the 1525km in 65:03. The women's race for the section was more spread out then the previous race. Gisela Gartmair (Germany) was the female champion for the section. Gisela was previously only one minute behind Pharaoh's Delight winner Juliana Austin-Olson. This time the pint sized mountain climber Gisela was able to spread the gap by almost an hour. Gisela was also the female winner for The Blue Nile Gorge Time Trial.
Gorge Stage Winners
Men Gorge Stage Placement
1. Marcel Van Zwam 65:03
2. Frans Smit 69:30
3. Stuart Briggs 69:38
4. Jethro De Decker 71:18
5. Daniel Spasojevic 73:18
Female Gorge Stage Winners
1. Gisela Gartmair 78:22
2. Juliana Austin-Olson 80:05
3. Erin Sprague 87:38
4. Jennifer Crake 105:21
5. Stephanie Sleen 109:27
Capetown's Jethro De Decker won the Valentine's Day Stage - February 14th 2010, 117km from Gondor to a Farm Camp outside of Bahir Dar. De Decker slaughtered his competition with a tricky maneuver. The mountain biker passed his larger geared road cyclists at lunch stopping only briefly for a banana. De Decker, who loves to climb the mountain around Cape Town used the two climbs in that stage to achieve his win - "the roadies have less of an advantage on the climbs, they can't use their big gears". De Decker is quickly becoming on of the racers to beat moving from 9th overall in the Pharaoh's Delight Section to 4th in the recently completed Gorge Section. Jethro also finished 4th in The Blue Nile Gorge 20 km Time Trial. The cheeky De Decker credits his win to "honour, limits and rules, in other words, don't take long lunches just because the roadies do".
-- Kelsey Wiens
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Posted February 26, 2010 by Tour d'Afrique Ltd.
Ethiopia | Race Updates | Sudan | Tour Updates |
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