Team NAD Victory at the Trailseeker series Gauteng, South Africa

Dear Partners

After a solid break, Team NAD Pro got back to racing with the second round of the Trailseeker series in Gauteng. Hazeldean, situated just outside of Pretoria is a popular event with pro and amateur racers and never fails to deliver great racing. 

The course made for some fast racing and a tight group rode together until the first climb where the cracks started to appear. Nico and Gawie worked as a team and only Phillip Buys and Heine Engelbrecht managed to keep contact with the duo after the first major climb. 

“Hazeldean was the first Trailseeker for the year, missing the first one due to my accident. For us as a team, it was a very important race for our season and our sponsors. Having a partner on the day made all the difference. Phillip was on his own without anyone to work with. We decided that we are going to keep the pace high and that is exactly what we did. I went to the front and just kept grinding the 38t chainring going. Both of us rode the same gearing so it helped to keep the speed high and consistent. Gawie and I put in a few attacks and just forced Phillip to do all the chasing. I managed to put in a big attack towards the latter part of the race and got away with Heine. At the single track,  I made sure to enter first and put in a few hard efforts to drop Heine and give Gawie the opportunity to catch up. That is exactly what happened. I kept my gap to the finish and Gawie came through to finish off the podium in third place. We are very happy with the result” - Nico Bell

“After Lionman, we really wanted to win this race. After the first few attacks, nothing happened and no one got away. A rocky climb presented an opportunity to launch another attack that would stick in the end separating Nico, myself, Phillip and Heine from the rest of the field. Nico kept  the pace very high on the flats. I put in a few attacks and each time the guys managed to bring the gap back. When Nico attacked on the single track, I was sitting in 4th position and not able to go across. I did not want to pull Phillip across to Nico, so I sat it out and waited for the finish sprint. Unfortunately I miss judged the finish and just missed out on second place. Always a great race and series and we are looking forward to the next one” - Gawie Combrinck

A solid victory for Nico and a well deserved third place for Gawie. 

Next on the racing calendar is the Bestmed Jock Cycle Tour in Mpumalanga, a 3 day road stage race. 

Thank you for the continued support!

Team NAD

Gawie is coached by PCG Coach Hunter Allen