Matie cyclist Vera Adrian (22), African and Namibian champion in the road race and time trail, continued her good form by coming third in the Cape Town Cycle Tour (CTCT) on Sunday 6 March.

Adrian completed the race behind South Africa's An-Li Kachelhoffer and Lynette Burger. All three cyclists completed the 109 km race in a time of 2:51:26.

"Being on the podium at such a big race feels amazing," Adrian said on Tuesday.

She is now hoping to represent her country in Brazil at the 2016 Olympics.

"Namibia has a spot for the road race at the Olympic Games. It is up to the Namibian Cycling Federation to choose who they are going to send."

Adrian, who comes from Windhoek and rides for Time Freight, is in the final year of a Bcom degree in management accounting and is a member of the Maties Cycling Club.

In February, she won two gold medals at the African Continental Championships in Morocco as well as two gold medals at Namibia's National Championships.

Other Maties also performed well in the race.

Stuart McCreadie, Paralympic hand cyclist and member of the Maties Parasport Club, won his category in a time of 03:29:16.

In preparation for the World University Cycling Championship, Maties cyclists Hans-Werner Heuer and Max Sullivan also competed in the Cape Town Cycle Tour.

According to the official results, Heuer finished in 36th place (out of 22 471 male cyclists) in a time of 02:39:01 and Sullivan in 37th place in a time of 02:39:02.

"The racing conditions were very good and the elite times could have been faster if not for team tactics. It was great preparation (for WUCC) seeing as the route has similar amount of climbing," Sullivan said.

Heuer, Sullivan and CP van Wyk will be representing University Sport South Africa (USSA) at the WUCC to be held from 16-20 March 2016 in the Philippines.

Students from at least 17 countries, including leading participants from Europe and the USA, will attend the championship which, for the first time, will be contested outside Europe. The event features four main races – a 122 km road race, a 80 km criterium, a 35 km cross country Olympic and a 1,2 km cross country eliminator.

Heuer is a final-year engineering student, Van Wyk studies BCom and Sullivan BCom Hons in Public Administration (BPA).