Namibian elite male cyclist and 2024 Olympian, Alex Miller, and elite women cyclist, Anri Greef took top honours in the Nedbank National Individual Time Trials (ITT) and Road Race (RR) events which took place on 7 and 9 February at the Matchless Mine in Windhoek. 

In a statement yesterday, Nedbank Namibia indicated that Miller dominated the road race event, winning the 160-kilometre race in a time of four hours, four minutes, and 45 seconds (04:04:45) ahead of second-placed Martin Freyer, who was almost 10 minutes behind in a time of 04:14:24.

Third place was taken by Brandon Plaatjes, who clocked 04:33:04 in sunny conditions in the capital.

In the women’s elite competition, Greef dominated the 100-kilometre race from start to finish, clocking 03:14:07, ahead of Louise Breed, who was a distant second with a time of 3:37:24.45.

Third place went to Jean-Marie Mostert, who clocked 3:37:27.91.

Speaking after the race, Miller said it is always a privilege to wear the national jersey, especially now that he has signed with his new Italian team, Swatt Team, which will see him compete on the European circuit starting next week in Spain, reads the statement.

“I enjoyed the course. Well, done to the organisers for putting together such a challenging course. These are national championships; it needs to be a little bit harder and be on par with some of the other countries, maybe South Africa. We need to raise the level a bit so that we can compete against the South Africans when they come here and when we go there. I am pleased that the route was decent.” 

Nedbank said Miller added that the plan was just to ride hard on all the climbs, as he knew he would be able to get away from the group at some point.

Meanwhile, Greef said it was a race that suited her style because of the many climbs along the route.

“I managed to get a break quite early in the race and I managed to keep it that way with the many hills and climbs along the way,” she said.

Greef added that even with her comfortable lead of over 10 minutes, she pushed herself hard as she was preparing for the Tour de Windhoek, a race that sees international riders participate.

She added that sometimes having such a huge lead leads to complacency as one gets into a static state. Hence, it’s important to keep one’s head on the shoulders and focus on the job at hand.

Meanwhile, Miller and Greef also won the 2024 Nedbank Namibia Individual Time Trials (ITT) on Friday at the same venue.

In the elite man’s category, Miller clocked 59:09 ahead of Freyer, who clocked 01:02:49 in second place.