Times Of Swaziland: MTN KHEMANI’S LUNGELO CRUISES TO SURPRISE WIN MTN KHEMANI’S LUNGELO CRUISES TO SURPRISE WIN ================================================================================ BY ASHMOND NZIMA on 13/08/2017 10:11:00 NKONYENI – MTN Khemani’s Lungelo Mlangeni has cruised to a historic win in the 65km Inyatsi Nkonyeni G2G Mountain Bike (MTB) Classic. The 21-year-old dethroned back-to-back champion, Sifiso Mhlanga, with a time of 02:59:48 hours to win his first MTB event in history. Following several attempts and several podium finishes, Mlangeni finally clinched gold ahead of South Africa’s Rudolf Pretorius, who clocked 03:00:16 hours. Mlangeni pounced unannounced after the last climb as he stunned Mhlanga and Pretorius, who were in front for the better part of the race. The former ranked third in 03:00:25 hours.The proud champion said the trick was to keep the leading duo in sight and capitalised on his strength in sprints towards the end. “I do both road and MTB events, but I focus more on the former,” said Mlangeni. The route was altered a little bit. The terrain remained challenging as the cyclists had to cycle on single and thorny trails as well open hard roads. For the first time, the starting point was also few metres away from the clubhouse. Meanwhile, Retha Harding maintained her cutting edge to become the female champion in 04:00:43 hours. Ayanda Dlamini, on the other hand, reached the winning point in 01:37:00 hours to stretch his winning streak in the second longest races to three. He won all the two other races at Nedbank and Ngwenya. Other events were 20km and 10km long and the final results were yet to be confirmed following a gender mix-up caused by some of the cyclists during registration. Deputy Prime Minister Paul Dlamini, who features regularly in cycling events these days, made a stop even yesterday to decorate the podium finishers.