Waylon talks with Johnny Koen on the beach front about the event
The 100km event that was raced on the closed N2 highway inland and then back to the beach again was well organized in fantastic weather. The turnout in the elite bunch was not as large as expected, but strong competition came in the form of the Toyota National U23 academy and Team Medscheme.
The race was split apart in the early hills up towards Hemingways, by attacks from Toyota, and then a move went clear containing Woolcock and newly crowned U/23 national champion Johann van Zyl. They were soon joined by Nic White and then also Hanco Kachelhoffer of Team Medscheme.
The chase was constant from the group behind, and the gap remained small, until Malcolm Lange saw a good opportunity to get across. Medscheme, in good numbers, then drove the break clear, but Johann van Zyl proved wily in winning the king of the mountain prime close to the turn around point.
It was all team Medscheme on the front of the break in the run back to East London, and with 30km remaining, White got clear and was soon joined by Kachelhoffer. Van Zyl was clearly in trouble trying to handle the attacks of Medscheme, and was left behind, as the four in blue grouped together and sped on towards the finish.
It was Woolcock, who had ridden strongly and started all of the trouble on the day, he was strongest at the end to take the line honors from White, Kachelhoffer and Lange.
Team Medscheme, with helpers and supporters from the East London Medscheme office
The town had embraced this event with plenty of friendly local support and totally closed off roads. The route was challenging and in the Eastern Cape, this ranks as one of the highlights of their cycling calendar.
Felt Daily Dispatch, East London
Elite Men, 100km: 1st Waylon Woolcock (Team Medscheme) 2h30m05
2nd Nic White (Team Medscheme)
3rd Hanco Kachelhoffer (Team Medscheme)
4th Malcolm Lange (Team Medscheme)
5th Johann Van Zyl (Toyota CSA Development)