By Helge Schultz ALGIERS It was a disastrous day for Namibia at the cycling road race on Saturday as only Ananias Ananias managed to complete the race, way down the field. Namibia’s main hope for a medal, Erik Hoffmann, crashed out of the race on the fifth of nine laps, while Jacques Celliers, Ermin van Wyk, Lotto Petrus and Tjipe Murangi all fell out along the way. The road race consisted of nine laps of a 16km route close to the sea resort of Tipaza and took place in hot and humid conditions of more than 40 degrees C. The race started in front of the city hall of El Kaleo, an old village, after which the course stretched through the village and surrounding countryside. The final seven kilometres consisted of a gradual ascent, which tested the cyclists’ endurance to the limit. Hofmann Involved in a Crash Hoffman and Celliers were in the front peleton when a cyclist swerved in front of Hoffmann, causing an accident, which took out several cyclists. A furious Hofmann tried to get back into the race but his bicycle was damaged and it took him quite a while to fix it. When he finally got back on, the leading peleton was way ahead and Hoffmann’s medal chances were effectively over. By the sixth lap Hoffmann was fighting a lone battle more than a minute behind the peleton, and at the start of the seventh lap he retired from the race. “A cyclist swerved in front of me and I couldn’t stop and crashed into him. I tried hard to come back, but my knee was hurting so I stopped. This is a big disappointment for me,” he said. The cyclists’ manager, Glenn Howard said that it was his decision to pull Hofmann off. “I pulled Erik off so that he can rather fight another day. He was riding with a knee injury and for someone of his calibre it was not worthwhile to finish the race from the back of the field. I decided it was better for him to rest and recover from his knee injury,” he said.” Jacques Celliers waited for Hoffmann and tried to help him back to the leading group, but Celliers was also exhausted and retired a while later. Bad Luck Dogs Namibians Things already started to go wrong for Namibia when Tjipe Murangi was involved in a big crash of at least 10 cyclists on lap two. Murangi immediately got up and raced back to the leading group, but bad luck continued to dog Namibia’s cyclists. He soon got stomach cramps and pulled out of the race by the third lap. Lotto Petrus, who was also suffering from a knee injury, stopped by the fourth lap, while Ermin van Wyk pulled out by the fifth lap. It was a big letdown for the Namibian team that was hoping to do well, especially after Hoffmann recently won a silver medal at the World B Cycling Championships in Cape Town. Another disappointment was the fact that the organisers cancelled the time trial event without any reason. Hoffmann, who won a silver medal in the time trial at the 2003 All Africa Games, and Jacques Celliers – a time trial specialist – were hoping to do well in the time trial. As if these setbacks weren’t bad enough, top Namibian cyclist, Dan Craven, didn’t even make it to Algeria. Craven, who won a silver medal at the 2006 African Cycling Championships in Mauritius, picked up flu and remained in Italy where he rides for TeamFidiBC.com on the European circuit.