Cyclist stars for MTN Energade in Cape Pioneer Tour

Cape Pioneer Tour- team results
(Top three)

1. Team DCM                28:08:25
2. MTN Energade           28:26:04
3. Team Songo-Specialized 29:58:49
 
ADRIEN Niyonshuti put in a top class display in South Africa to help his team-MTN Energade secure a podium finish at this year’s Cape Pioneer Trek which climaxed on Sunday.

The 23-year-old, who is the only non-South African in a team of ten, teamed up well with the more experienced South African ultra-marathon champion Kevin Evans (32) to finish second after clocking 28 hours, 26 minutes and 04 second in the six-day competition which ran through the Southern Cape and Klein Karoo mountains covering 613km.

Max Knox and Thomas Zahnd of Team DCM won the race in 28 hours, eight minutes and 25 seconds  while Christopher Sauser and Silvio Bundi of Team Songo-Specialized finished third (one hour and 50 minutes) off the pace.

It was a spectacular effort from the two-time tour of Rwanda champion and a timely confidence booster ahead of the tour of Kigali and the Africa Continental Cycling Championship slated for November.

Surprisingly, Niyonshuti was also left astonished by his performance considering the fact that he had no time to recuperate after the Delhi Games where he finished 19th in the individual time trial race.

"I must admit that before the tour, I was worried because I had no idea how my legs were going to hold up after spending nearly two days at various airports and airplanes,” Niyonshuti said.   As far as being the MTN-Energade strong man, a modest Niyonshuti said he just did the job which is expected from any professional cyclist.  

"I’m very delighted with my performances this season. It is very clear that I’m on the way up and just want to continue progressing and giving my best to MTN Energade,” he added.

Ends