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Reinardt Janse van Rensburg (MTN Energade) makes it a doubleMonday, 20 September 2010 14:36 Janse van Rensburg has a successful weekend at the Zoo Lake CriteriumThe MTN Zoo Lake Criterium took on a different look yesterday in Parkview, Johannesburg. After a tough hour and a half, Reinardt Janse van Rensburg (MTN Energade) won from Malcolm Lange (Team Medscheme). The lap race around the tree lined suburbs held a number of races during the course of the day. The highlight being the Elite race over 90 minutes. What was different about it was that the sub veterans started after the first 30 minutes and joined the race a minute ahead of the rest of the field! This made things interesting, as the field was on no go slow, and in the intensity of the attacks, a group had gone clear of the bunch. It contained seven riders, and it was those six who had to close the gap to the fresh veterans category bunch! The break was made by Malcolm Lange (Team Medscheme), and he was joined by Reinardt Janse van Rensburg (MTN), Dennis van Niekerk (EMG), Jason Bakke (House of Paint), Alex Pavlov (NorthCliff Cycles), Stefano Moirana (DCM) and Paul van Zweel (Toyota National cycling academy). Once the vets group was caught by the leading elite break, Janse van Rensburg was the aggressor, attacking and going away, getting Lange for along for company. While this went on, the bunch led by House of Paint and MTN caught the vets, and a little group slipped over to join the front two. This group that had escaped looked good, but was nullified on the home stretch into a stiff head wind. With just 15 minutes left to race, a few solo attacks threatened to go clear, however the severity of the route and the high average speed of the day- 44.5kph, meant that there was little chance of an upset to the bunch sprint. Luthando Kaka and Neil Macdonald made some good attempts at a late solo attack, but after leading over the line with the final lap remaining, Macdonald's 10 second lead was not enough for the headwind section and he was joined by Calvin Beneke and some others, eventually all swallowed up in the push up the drag towards the finish. Team Medscheme led it out hard in the final kilometer, but in the final stretch, MTN's Janse van Rensburg went early. Lange was ready, but the blue train stuttered and Janse van Rensburg had the power to hold off Malcolm Lange and win the race! The hotspots of the day were won by Jason Bakke (House of Paint) and Chembe (African Continental Cycling Centre) "For me this is a great event, although the inclusion of the vets after 30 mins makes it interesting! This is a spectator friendly event that was well supported. MTN put on a good show in delivering a great event. For the racing part of things, it was incredibly tough, as the intensity of this race made it an all out effort for the full duration. I tried to get in a move or two, but missed out on the big one. I saved my last efforts of an attack and instead watched my mates Kaka and Macdonald try their hand in the finale. All that was left was for me to make my effort count in our lead out. It almost worked, and Malcolm Lange managed to finish second." - Nic White Results of the 90 minute crate. The second race of the day for the elites was a flying lap sprint race. Once again Team Medscheme fired up the train, and it was looking good, but into the headwind finish, MTN's Janse van Rensburg was on a roll for the day, and just managed to get past Lange again for the win! Very impressive from the young rider on the day, taking two wins in the sprint after racing aggressively for the duration of the race! Sprint lap results:
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