Luke Smith on his way to road race victory. Note UCI-approved white socks

It’s hard to beat a road bike on the road. Generally the best you can hope for is to grab a wheel and then time your attack so that you can pull off into a side road and hide before your lungs fall into the gutter. But Whyte-sponsored Luke Smith has managed the reasonably impressive achievement of winning a 75km road race on a mountain bike.

Having travelled to South Africa with just a Whyte 19 (and some clean pants and socks and stuff, obviously. And probably a toothbrush too), Luke had been doing a fair amount of training on the road. That’s one thing, actually racing on blacktop is another. We’re not quite sure how it happened, but Luke ended up on the start line in Gabarone, sat on his knobbly-shod 19 next to a load of skinny blokes on carbon road bikes with deep-section rims and all that stuff.

Over to Luke:

“The race started off a fairly decent pace with everyone keen to establish a good spot near the front of the peloton. I managed to work my way up front without too much difficulty, much to the surprise of many competitors as I rode past, my big knobbly tyres buzzing as the pace was wound up.

“The route was a fairly straightforward out and back circuit with a few corners near the finish. The wind was on our back as we headed out on the circuit which meant we would face some fairly strong winds at the turn.

“There were a couple of guys whom some friends of mine had told me to watch, one of them is apparently a pro roadie in South Africa. It was no surprise that it was these guys that made most of the attacks. What was surprising was the fact that I was able to go with them! Each time, though, we were pulled back by the main group.

“As the race neared the finish some of the riders made a last ditch effort at getting away but it was destined to come down to a sprint finish – however the guys trying to get away had done a pretty good job at stretching the field out. I managed to constantly hold second wheel behind the lead rider with the pro road rider sat closely on my wheel.

“As we hit the finishing straight I launched my attack and as I glanced back I realised I’d gapped the others. I even had enough time to make the most of the win and celebrate in style.

“The crowd and other riders were shocked that an MTB had won a road race. When they later asked what was the secret I replied, ‘Whyte – Great British Mountain Bikes, they can’t be beaten!’ Too be honest, though, I’d really surprised myself.

Hopefully I can keep some of this form for my imminent return to the UK…”

What does this tell us about the relative merits of MTB and road bikes? Not a lot, really. We can safely conclude that Luke Smith’s a pretty strong rider, though – if you want to emulate his feat we suggest that you pick your opponents with care…