Lesotho Sky 2016 race report day 4
Today was another awesome day as Phetetso Monese celebrated his 32nd birthday and took the stage win with teammate Stuart Marais for team Vodacom Lesotho. Daniel Gathof rode over a ploughed field and had to down a beer as punishment. He also took the Strava KOM on Bushman’s Pass: 21 minutes and 49 seconds with an average power output 364W. That’s all it took for him to reach the top. The word on the street is that his teammate launched a sneaky attack, just to realise that what he thought was the top, was actually not.
To get to the base of Bushman’s Pass, riders had to hike up a new vertical accent. Some of the elite guys rode it out; for the rest, it took more than 20 minutes. The super-fast singletracks that lead to the foot of the pass made up for the effort.
This route was one for the climbers, those who smile when they see a semi-district road disappearing high into the mountains. The real climb of the day was not Bushman’s Pass, but the Three Witches. Although shorter in distance and elevation, the gradient is higher and you have the sense that the climb never ends. Once you get to the top, all of the pain is forgotten – the view from the top is majestic. However, it does take some serious muscle power to tackle these mighty giants of Southern Africa and today was a fine example of just that. At the end of the day, it’s your unwavering perseverance and pride that will get you up that mountain. Today was an all or nothing type of day, which tested not only the riders strength but will-power too.
Team Alliance is closing the gap between them and Team Standard Lesotho Bank. They rolled in 9 minutes ahead. The next two days will be very interesting.
For more information about the race, click here
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