Jaco Venter is the new South African Road Champion
On a day where temperatures were around 40 degrees centigrade in Westville, Durban, it took fifty kilometres for the break to form a break which saw defending champion Jacques Janse van Rensburg joined by teammate Songezo Jim, Calvin Beneke (Panda) and Kent Main (Road Cover).
Theu were seven minutes ahead with around 70km to go, so Daryl Impey (Orica-Greenedge) and Louis Meintjes (Lampre-Merida) tried to chase them down and ensured that only Janse van Rensburg and Beneke were left out front with a lead of two minutes with 30kms to go.
The duo were caught sixteen kilometres later and Jaco Venter of Dimension Data marked a move by Jayde Julius and then rode away to take the win by a comfortable twenty five seconds.
His team mate Stefan de Bod took second place and became the South African U23 champion with a third Dimension Data rider in Reinardt Janse van Rensburg, rounding off the podium.
A delighted Venter said:"Obviously it is an awesome feeling to be national champion. I have tried for a few years to win the championships so it is good to finally have done it.
"At the start of the race, we all had a green card from the team to go for the win so the team was really motivated. In the beginning we worked really well, we were always on the front foot and in all the moves.
" Jacques and Songezo got into a good move that I thought was going to stay away but Daryl and Louis were just so strong.
"From there we just had to take control again with a few attacks, I went with about 10km to go, got a gap and just gave it my all. It worked and I am really happy to have taken the win."