Maties Cycling successfully defended their USSA title in Potchefstroom. 

Maties men dominated the competition, winning the yellow jersey, green jersey, team classification, all hotspots except one, as well as all stages but one in the road race competition. They also came first and second in the mountain-bike competition.

Stages were won by and Max Sullivan and Gert Heyns, who finished first in the general classification. Dominic Calitz won the MTB event.

Nicky Giliomee and Marie Kempf, both mountain-bikers, put in a lot of extra effort before the competition to master some of the road-racing tactics.

It paid off, with Nicky ending third in the general classification (road) for women, winning one stage and the yellow jersey after the time trail. She and Marie also finished second and third in the MTB event.

Maties Cycling’s Max Sullivan said the team is very happy with what they have achieved.

“It was real team effort. The competition was definitely stronger this year and the altitude made our first stage quite hard, but we still managed to come together and pull off a win.

“The team is very strong and there were several other eligible candidates for the 8-man team, highlighting the depth of cycling talent at Stellenbosch University. Maties could most certainly be deemed the best cycling university in the country, especially with the introduction of the high performance programme.”

Varsity Sports will also host the first Varsity MTB Challenge in October.

Cyclists on photograph: Gert Heyns, Kyle Basson, Max Sullivan, Ian Lategan, CP van Wyk, Ben Fish, Shaun Glover and Jacques Lloyd. Photo credit: Ralda van Wyk