LOCAL cycling hero Garth Thomas’s dream of winning his third consecutive Boxing Day 25 Mile track event, was shattered on 26 December by a relatively unknown cyclist.
Lesley Snyders, the pint sized cyclist from Paarl, astounded everyone at the beginning of the last lap.
Snyders suddenly broke away from the final group of eight cyclists, crossing the finish line alone in 56 minutes for a comfortable win.
In doing so, Snyders managed to beat big names such as Thomas, Dean Edwards and Nolan Hoffman.
After the event, the victorious Snyders said that he knew that he would not be able to keep up with these formidable contestants in the case of a sprint, and thus took his chance when he saw it.
This tactic was very successful, because once he had broken away, there was no chance of anyone catching up to him. On the contrary, they were left with the sight of Snyders and his luminous pink boots crossing the finish line in the distance.
Team-mates of Snyders, who ride for Neotel Rhadsport, were ecstatic at his surprise win, as were most of the spectators.
Hoffman, who at the start of the race was the clear favourite to win the legendary 25 Mile, had to settle for second place, Edwards for third and Thomas for fourth. Hoffman received the accolades as cyclist of the day, due to his excellent performances throughout the day’s events.
Thomas, however, came back with a vengeance the following weekend during the Neotel track racing event also held at the Faure Street Stadium in Paarl, to win the 25 Mile there.
Thomas is currently hoping to be included in the Olympic team which will be competing at the Olympic Games in Beijing later this year.
He will soon be jetting off to America to compete in the World Cycling Championships later this month in Los Angeles.
