Francois Theron pulled off the biggest win of his career and the first of the season for his team Garmin adidas sponsored by Joe's No-Flats.

Theron has frustratingly came so close on a number of occasions only to be derailed by mechanical failures. This time round though he made no mistake and took the early lead from other big names like MTN duo Kevin Evans and David George amongst others. The race sported a new 128 kilometre route through the Southern Outeniquas this year that threw in an extra challenge for all the riders and opened up the field a bit.

Theron was the main protagonist and attacked with only five kilometres covered.   This move proved to be the deciding break of the day and Theron’s aggressive start caught everyone by surprise and when asked about it later commented that he hoped everyone would underestimate him and think he couldn’t possibly last the whole race at that tempo.     Theron said afterwards he banked on the other riders thinking he could not possibly last at the tempo he was riding.

Theron was asked how he did it and simply answered “I had the edge” referring to his Garmin Edge 705, “I was able to see exactly how far I went, needed to go and how much climbing still needed to be done and could accurately estimate just how much energy I had to save or spend”. “It helps to be able to “see” what you are going to get in a race where you haven’t seen the route yet, I simply downloaded the route and this really helped me a lot out there” Theron added.

David George one of the pre-race favourites pulled out after having problems with his seat post while Theron kept up the pressure from the front and managed to stay clear of George’s team mate Kevin Evans. Theron’s win was bitter sweet and he commented after that “finally I had a race where bad luck didn’t ruin it for me” and he also claimed the King of Attakwas on his way to the win by summiting the Attakwas pass first.

Evans came in just before German Nikolai Fritzmeyer who won the mixed category in the 2008 ABSA Cape Epic highlighting the brilliant ride by the Garmin adidas youngster even more.

In the ladies race it was Theron’s Garmin adidas team mate Samantha Oostuysen who held the team’s flag high as well by finishing second overall making this a very successful outing for the Garmin adidias outfit.

To keep up to speed with the team visit www.teamgarmin.co.za

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