Christoff van Heerden successfully defended his title in the 2009 Tour Durban Cycle Classic on Sunday, which was marred by an unfortunate accident in which his MTN team mate, Juan van Heerden, was injured on the finishing straight.
In the frenetic bunch sprint to the finish in NMR Avenue outside the Cyril Geoghegan Velodrome, the two Van Heerdens, along with Medscheme's Malcolm Lange and Arran Brown and local Durban rider Dean Edwards (Team House of Paint), were all vying for line honours when Juan's bicycle clipped one of the crash barriers 100m from the finish.
Juan, third last year, suffered a broken wrist and severe shock. He had to be stabilised by medics before being taken to hospital for observation.
Christoff led in the others in the bunch in what was almost a repeat of the 2008 order, finishing the 103km race in 2:21:52 with Argus Tour winner Brown second, Nolan Hoffman (Neotel) third, Lange fourth and Edwards fifth. His winning time was marginally slower than his record for the course of 2:20:07 set in 2008.
Dennis van Niekerk (Konica Minolta) was sixth and SA 2009 road champion, Jamie Ball, who rode for House of Paint in 2008, seventh.
The women's race was a personal triumph for Cassandra Slingerland, also MTN, who broke away at the turnaround on the M4 at the Tongaat Circle and completed the last 28km of the race riding solo with an U16 schoolboy, James Fourie of Bryanston High, for company to finish three minutes ahead of 2008 winner, Marrisa van der Merwe, in 2:43:43 to give MTN first and second places with Ashleigh Moolman (Cyclelab) third.
The men's race saw the peleton virtually in the control of Lange and his Medscheme riders, and they attacked non-stop on the long climb up to Pinetown on the M19 in a bid to initiate a successful breakaway.
The field of 40-odd professionals, who were enjoying total road closure and windless, overcast and cool conditions, finally produced a breakaway group of 17 riders on the fast descent on the M19 back to Durban with speeds reaching 100km/h. But this was again neutralised as they regrouped on their way under the freeway approaching Springfield Park with 42km on the clock at the end of the first hour of racing.
Michael Pepper (House of Paint) and Jay Thompson (MTN) took the Hot Spot prime in Umgeni Road before the route swung across the river to Riverside and northwards on the M4 at the Durban North Hypermarket.
The last serious break, composed of 10 riders, took off at the Sibaya Casino Circle at the 64km mark and stayed away for 30km with less than 10km of the race remaining. From there until the end, the pace quickened as the team sprinters went to the front of the bunch.
Van Heerden, a 24-year-old full-time professional rider from Benoni, won the 2008 race in the colours of Konica Minolta and also won the 2007 Amashovashova National Classic. He said he had trained extra-hard to retain his Tour Durban title and felt he had timed his race to perfection.
Edwards was cautioned for his tactics in the final sprint.