{"id":20714,"date":"2013-06-26T23:05:22","date_gmt":"2013-06-26T21:05:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/smit-takes-early-lead-at-ussa-champs\/"},"modified":"2013-06-26T23:05:22","modified_gmt":"2013-06-26T21:05:22","slug":"smit-takes-early-lead-at-ussa-champs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/smit-takes-early-lead-at-ussa-champs\/","title":{"rendered":"Smit takes early lead at USSA champs"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The University of Pretoria<\/a>\u2018s Willie Smit (left) won both the opening road stage and the individual time-trial on day one of the Bestmed USSA road cycling championships in Port Elizabeth<\/a> on Wednesday. Photo: Coetzee Gouws\/Full Stop Communications<\/p>\n

Team Bonitas professional Willie Smit put in a dominating performance to claim the first two stages and the yellow jersey on day one of the Bestmed USSA student road cycling championships in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Smit, from the University of Pretoria, opened his account with a split-second victory in the 83km road stage (2:07:25) in the morning and went on to notch up another credit in the 15km individual time-trial (21:49.46) later in the day.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy main goal was the time-trial,\u201d said the 20-year-old.<\/p>\n

\u201cWinning the road race was just a bonus. The team did a great job and it wouldn\u2019t have been possible without them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first stage culminated in a dramatic bunch sprint to the finish at Altona Primary in the Greenbushes area, with Smit just nosing ahead of runner-up Waldo Gronum (Shukuma-NMMU) and third-placed Martin Scheppel (University of Johannesburg<\/a>).<\/p>\n

In the afternoon, Smit judged the windy conditions along Marine Drive well to put almost a minute into team-mate Kevin Patten, who took second in 22:55.28. Local rider Gronum rounded out the day\u2019s podium in 23:18.54.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a headwind going out, so I was planning to ride out as hard as possible to make up more time,\u201d said Smit, who logged the fastest-ever time-trial at the Tour of Mauritius last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a lot of people thought they should save their energy on the way out and then go back faster but the pace on the return leg was just too high.\u201d<\/p>\n

The second-year law student, who finished third overall last year, said he was feeling confident that Tuks could take the team competition for a second year in a row.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s up to the other guys to race us. We\u2019ll just control the race and see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the women\u2019s tour, the University of Cape Town<\/a>\u2018s Kelley Hess soloed to victory on stage one and finished second on stage two to take a convincing overall lead.<\/p>\n

The American post-doctoral fellow in astronomy put in an attack on the first lap of the 62km road race for an unchallenged win in 1:56:23.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat wasn\u2019t the plan,\u201d said a surprised Hess. \u201cI broke with 50km to go and expected to get chased down but the gap just kept getting bigger.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was followed home by Stellenbosch University\u2019s Ashleigh Blackwell in 1:59:47, with UCT\u2019s Sarah Chemaly third in 2:03:09.<\/p>\n

Blackwell, who rides professionally in the colours of ASG Bestmed, won the 10km time-trial in 17:22.25 \u2013 36 seconds clear of Hess \u2013 to move into second overall.<\/p>\n

Former pro rider Chemaly finished third in 18:03.96 to claim the same spot in the general classification.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, the 120km queen stage rolls out from the NMMU South Campus at 9am.<\/p>\n

Visit www.nmmu.ac.za<\/p>\n

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