25 Feb 2014

Team Botswana’s lead cyclist Bernardo Ayuso continued his sterling performance in national cycling events when he won the Botswana Builders World classic 3 day cycling race over the weekend (Saturday 22-23).

The race began on Friday, February 21 with a prologue 4km time trial at Masa Centre in Gaborone.Ayuso ripped clear in the final kilometre to claim the win, 18 seconds ahead of teammate Bright Chipongo, a 26 year old Zimbabwean national. Victor Potgeiter of Gaborone Cycling Club came in third with a time of 00:05:19.

Stage 2 of the race continued on Saturday morning with an 84km race in Boatle.There was a horrendous crash at the beginning of the race, but cyclists like Potgeiter managed to get back on track and continue with the race. Chipongo took the lead right from the start and created a huge gap between him and the other cyclists.  Ayuso, who won the mountain bike championship last year, was right behind him.

Chipongo went ahead to win the king of the mountain race. Ayuso caught up with him on the turn at Mmankgodi back to Boatle, and went on to win the best print for the second time.Chipongo once again won the last mountain race.

The battle for the first prize was clearly between the two favourites on the return lap to Boatle. But it was Ayuso who eventually emerged victorious with a time of 02:13:32. Chipongo scooped the second prize while Darren Ryan came in third with a time of 02:20:24.

The third stage of the race took place at the CBD in the afternoon. After lagging behind in the first lap, Ayuso took the lead in the second lap. He swept the race in a time of 00:58:59, followed by Victor Potgeiter arrived with 01:00:58 and Aleck Musariri at 01:00:50.

The 20 year old Ayuso continued his domination in the 109 km race from Gaborone to Rasesa.The race started at 8 am on Sunday morning as the cyclists took off to Rasesa along the A1 road. They took two laps in Rasesa before heading back to Gaborone. The trio of Ayuso, Chipongo and Ryan separated themselves from the group as soon as they left Rasesa. Ayuso took the lead at Mmamashia and left his counterparts to fight for the second spot.

He won the race in a time of 02:56:06 and won the overall prize of P9 000.Chipongo won the P4 000 second prize and Ryan scooped the P3 000 third prize.

In the ladies section Nadine Davies won the first prize of P9 000 after accumulating more points during the three stages.Deborah Baillie walked away with the second prize while Anouk Van De Geest took third position. ENDS