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From: B-Haile (eritrea.lave@comhem.se)
Date: Wed Nov 10 2010 - 15:59:54 EST
Namibia fifth in Team Time Trial
Submitted by editor on Wed, 11/10/2010 - 19:19
Namibia's national cycling team came fifth in the Team Time Trial at the African Cycling Championships in Rwanda on Wednesday.
Eritrea caused a big upset to beat the favourites South Africa into second place, while Ethiopia came third.
Eritrea completed the 40km event in a time of 54 minutes 12 seconds to finish 2:12 ahead of South Africa, while Ethiopia finished 3:08 behind the winners in third place.
Algeria came fourth, 3:14 behind the winners, while Namibia came fifth, 3:44 behind the winners.
They were followed by Kenya (also 3:44 behind), Libya (3:49 behind), Egypt (4:54 behind) and the host nation Rwanda (6:50) behind. A total of 15 African nations completed the Team Time Trial.
The Namibian team's preparations suffered a setback when Ingram Cuff went down with flu last week which affected his performance as he was quickly dropped by the leading pack.
Namibia's other three cyclists, Dan Craven, Petrus Lotto and Victor Krohne stayed in touch with the leading group and at the halfway stage were even 10 seconds ahead of the South African team.
But the Namibian team, and especially the third placed Krohne struggled over the final 7,7km climb to drop down the field. Since the time of the third rider is taken into account in the Team Time Trial, Namibia's early good work was undone as they dropped down to fourth position overall.
Eritrea's victory was a big surprise since most people had expected South Africa to win. South Africa however have sent a young team to gain experience since they have already qualified for the 2012 Olympic Games and their top cyclists were not present.
Namibia's top cyclist Dan Craven will be hoping to finish amongst the medals in the Road Race on Sunday, to increase Namibia's chances of qualifying for the Olympic Games.
The Individual Time Trial takes place on Friday.
http://www.namibiasport.com.na/node/15029
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