A sure way for any sport journalist to get proverbial egg over his face is to make bold predictions about the outcome of a sports event before it even happens.

Despite this it would be stupid not to tip Kevin Evans and Adrien Niyonshuti (MTN-Energade) as the favourites to win the six day DCM Cape Pioneer Trek mountain bike tour (18-23 October).

This year’s results speak for itself. It seems as if Evans just does not get beaten once the going gets really tough during races. He proved it by winning four of the first six races in the MTN ultra-marathon series.

Another week has flown by and Friday here at Crank means one thing, happiness. With a weekend of riding planned and some exciting new changes for Crank in the pipeline things cant get much better. Enjoy!

One of the most exciting rivalries in South African mountain biking resumes on Saturday when Yolandé Speedy (MTN-Energade) and Eszther Erdelyi-Cluer (Jeep) get on their bicycles to race the MTN Ride Crater Cruise.

Purely judging by the way Speedy has been dominating the local women’s mountain bike races throughout the year she should be the outright favourite.

If Kevin Evans (MTN-Energade) wins he will be the first rider to defend his Crater Cruise title successfully; if Max Knox (DCM) manages to be the first across the line he will complete an amazing hat trick of victories in the space of just four weeks; if Ben-Melt Swanepoel (Specialized/Mr Price) wins he will the first to boast with three Crater Cruise victories.

A urine sample taken from three-time Tour de France winner Alberto Contador showed abnormally high levels of plastic residues that could indicate he received a transfusion of his own blood during this year’s race, a person with knowledge of the test results told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Contador, who has previously denied receiving a transfusion, was provisionally suspended by the international cycling federation last week after a small amount of the banned drug clenbuterol was discovered in one of his samples by a laboratory in Cologne, Germany.

The Deus SL crank continues Race Face’s legendary tradition for excellence in aluminum cranks.

The real part that makes this crank special is the TI axle, the axle alone shaves 45g off the weight of the crank set over the regular Deus XC crank which has a steel axle. The Deus SL was manufactured in a limited quantity world wide and there are a limited number of crank sets available in South Africa.

A South African female rider will be the first to win a medal in a pro-elite race at the UCI World Road Championship.

That is what the professional teams that have invested in South African Women’s cycling have predicted for the last few years.

Carla Swart (MTN-Energade) so nearly proved the prophecy correct over the weekend in Geelong, Australia when she finished 10th in the women’s race over 127.2km.