94.7 Cycle Challenge
Following the Argus, the 94.7 Cycle Challenge is the 2nd biggest event in South Africa. This year around 30 000 cyclists took part in the demanding route through the streets of Johannesburg.
This 2009 route took cyclist around the centre of Johannesburg instead of going through it like previous year. The new course included a few extra steep hills which made for some hard racing.
The Elite woman left the start line just after 6 am. Our group consisted of only elite lady riders, excluding the veteran and junior woman who had their own start batches. The initial part of the route took us on the M1 highway. It was here where the first break-away group formed including Joanna van der Winkel (Cycle lab), An-Li Pretorius (Nashua) and Lylanie Lauwrens (Team MTN).
With all the main contenders still tucked in the main group, the break didn’t trouble me at first. Later on it became apparent that the big teams were happy with their representatives in the break and they would let it run. Lise Olivier and I (both Konica Minolta) started taking turns up front in an attempt to keep the break in sight. We didn’t want to tire ourselves unnecessarily, but we couldn’t let the break get too much of gap either.
As we reached the halfway mark the break had managed to stretch their time gap to over 2 min. Back in the main group it seemed as if all the major teams (MTN, Nashua and Cycle lab) were racing with their hands tight on their brakes. With both of team MTN and team Nashua’s riders in the break starting to fade I couldn’t understand why they didn’t contribute to the chase...
As we reached the N14 highway I didn’t have any other option but to start chasing seriously if we were to have any chance of winning. Lise (Olivier) and I knew bringing back the break wouldn’t be ideal because it would leave us tired for the sprint, but at least it will give us some opportunity to fight for victory.
By the finish we managed to reduce the time gap to only a few seconds, but unfortunately we couldn’t close it completely and also ended up being too tired to sprint for the minor placings.
It was my last race for the season and I gave everything I had to get a good result. We were unfortunate to miss the break of the day and with the race being so tactical it cost us dearly. Despite this I was happy to cross the finishline completely ‘empty’, knowing that I had given it my all.
My next event is Sabie Experience in December and I am already looking forward to spending some time on my mountain bike again…but first I’ll have a bit of a rest!
Monday, November 16, 2009
Monday, November 9, 2009
AGA CYCLE CHALLENGE
On Sunday I traveled to the North West Province to participate in the AGA Cycle Challenge. It was hosted at the Oppenheimer Sports Complex in Vaal Reefs, Orkney. This year the event formed part of the Alpha Pharm Series, attracting cyclists from all across the country.
The route was very flat, taking us through the Vaal river mining area of AngloGold Ashanti.
The wind played the biggest role on the day, gusting at a strong 25 to 35km/h. This caused the bunch to string out in ‘gutters’, reducing the numbers in the main group as the kilometers rolled by.
The Elite ladies started alongside the veteran men from all age categories, making the race very fast.
The ladies bunch mainly consisted of Team Nashua (with 4 riders), Jenny Stennerhag (Alpha Pharm) and me (Konica Minolta). In the first quarter of the event, Robyn de Groot put in a good attack and managed to open up a decent gap. She was soon joined by a pair of veteran riders who bridged across to her.
Nobody thought that this attempt would last in the strong wind, but they surprised us all and stayed away until the finish. Robyn de Groot (Team Nashua) took 1st place, winning her 2nd big race in a row.
In the sprint for the line, I sat in 2nd place, behind a veteran rider going into the final corner. It was a headwind to the line and he sat up 400m to go. As I was left in front I decided to start sprinting early. It was still a long way to the finish line and the headwind proved too much for me.
Anriette Schoeman (Team Nashua) and Jenny Stennerhag ( Alpha Pharm) passed me, crossing the finish line in 2nd and 3rd place respectively.
Race Results
1st Robyn de Groot (Team Nashua)
2nd Anriette Schoeman(Team Nashua)
3rd Jenny Stennerhag( Alpha Pharm)
4th Carla van den Merwe (Team Nashua)
5th Jade Roberts (Team Nashua)
6th Yolandi du Toit (Konica Minolta)
On Sunday I traveled to the North West Province to participate in the AGA Cycle Challenge. It was hosted at the Oppenheimer Sports Complex in Vaal Reefs, Orkney. This year the event formed part of the Alpha Pharm Series, attracting cyclists from all across the country.
The route was very flat, taking us through the Vaal river mining area of AngloGold Ashanti.
The wind played the biggest role on the day, gusting at a strong 25 to 35km/h. This caused the bunch to string out in ‘gutters’, reducing the numbers in the main group as the kilometers rolled by.
The Elite ladies started alongside the veteran men from all age categories, making the race very fast.
The ladies bunch mainly consisted of Team Nashua (with 4 riders), Jenny Stennerhag (Alpha Pharm) and me (Konica Minolta). In the first quarter of the event, Robyn de Groot put in a good attack and managed to open up a decent gap. She was soon joined by a pair of veteran riders who bridged across to her.
Nobody thought that this attempt would last in the strong wind, but they surprised us all and stayed away until the finish. Robyn de Groot (Team Nashua) took 1st place, winning her 2nd big race in a row.
In the sprint for the line, I sat in 2nd place, behind a veteran rider going into the final corner. It was a headwind to the line and he sat up 400m to go. As I was left in front I decided to start sprinting early. It was still a long way to the finish line and the headwind proved too much for me.
Anriette Schoeman (Team Nashua) and Jenny Stennerhag ( Alpha Pharm) passed me, crossing the finish line in 2nd and 3rd place respectively.
Race Results
1st Robyn de Groot (Team Nashua)
2nd Anriette Schoeman(Team Nashua)
3rd Jenny Stennerhag( Alpha Pharm)
4th Carla van den Merwe (Team Nashua)
5th Jade Roberts (Team Nashua)
6th Yolandi du Toit (Konica Minolta)
Sunday, November 1, 2009
MTN-OFM Classic
The OFM Classic turned out to be held on an ideal weekend with the Currie Cup’s final match played on Saturday night.
When I arrived in Bloemfontein on Friday, I could feel the liveliness in the air.
On Saturday I didn’t only feel it, but started to see it. Outside everything was orange, movable or immovable.
On Sunday the liveliness didn’t disappear after the Rugby match but only shifted to the OFM Cycling Classic.
This year a few changes were made to the OFM cycling route which took us first through Bloemfontein to encounter the 3 famous climbs of Bloemfontein (Harry
Smith climb, then Bloemfontein’s own ‘suikerbossie’and lastly Lucas Steyn).
On top of Lucas Steyn the Ladies peleton were reduces by a great deal and less than ¼ of the ladies were left (around 20 riders) in the group. Only when we left town I started to feel the heavy wind blowing which ended up playing a crucial roll on the day.
The familiar procedure took place on the high-way (around 40km) when all the big teams (Team MTN/Team Nashua/Cycle Lab) started to launch several attacks to get riders down the road and eventually a small break-away group formed consisting of Isabel Moolman (Cycle Lab), An-Li Pretorius (Nashua) and Lilanie Lourence (MTN).
The pace back in the group was easing up, until we turned back on the high-way (around 60km). From there it felt like a chest match with all the kings (Team Captain’s) playing their pawns (team mates).
I didn’t have any other options available except to go with everything that went down the road. Luckily the 3 girls up front got brought back before we headed onto the airport circuit for the last 20km.
Isabel Moolman (Cycle Lab) was very strong and determined. She managed to get herself into a solo break around 10km from the finish. This forced the MTN team to role through on the front, also putting the rest of the field in the cutter.
They managed to bring Isabel back with 5km to go and from there onwards it was a fight for position all the way to the finish.
Robyn de Groot made a smart move and attacked with 2km to go. The bunch hesitated for a moment and then only followed, but it was too late. She managed to keep free from the Peleton to take her biggest victory in her cycling career, with the rest of us sprinting for the line. The sprint was chaotic, trying to get through riders from the shorter distances, luckily nobody from the ladies crashed.
Results
1st Robyn de Groot (Nashua)
2nd Jenny Stennerhag (Alpha Pharm)
3rd Marissa van den Merwe(MTN)
4th Cherise Taylor (MTN)
5th Lynette Burger (Cycle Lab)
6th Yolandi du Toit (Konica Minolta)
The OFM Classic turned out to be held on an ideal weekend with the Currie Cup’s final match played on Saturday night.
When I arrived in Bloemfontein on Friday, I could feel the liveliness in the air.
On Saturday I didn’t only feel it, but started to see it. Outside everything was orange, movable or immovable.
On Sunday the liveliness didn’t disappear after the Rugby match but only shifted to the OFM Cycling Classic.
This year a few changes were made to the OFM cycling route which took us first through Bloemfontein to encounter the 3 famous climbs of Bloemfontein (Harry
Smith climb, then Bloemfontein’s own ‘suikerbossie’and lastly Lucas Steyn).
On top of Lucas Steyn the Ladies peleton were reduces by a great deal and less than ¼ of the ladies were left (around 20 riders) in the group. Only when we left town I started to feel the heavy wind blowing which ended up playing a crucial roll on the day.
The familiar procedure took place on the high-way (around 40km) when all the big teams (Team MTN/Team Nashua/Cycle Lab) started to launch several attacks to get riders down the road and eventually a small break-away group formed consisting of Isabel Moolman (Cycle Lab), An-Li Pretorius (Nashua) and Lilanie Lourence (MTN).
The pace back in the group was easing up, until we turned back on the high-way (around 60km). From there it felt like a chest match with all the kings (Team Captain’s) playing their pawns (team mates).
I didn’t have any other options available except to go with everything that went down the road. Luckily the 3 girls up front got brought back before we headed onto the airport circuit for the last 20km.
Isabel Moolman (Cycle Lab) was very strong and determined. She managed to get herself into a solo break around 10km from the finish. This forced the MTN team to role through on the front, also putting the rest of the field in the cutter.
They managed to bring Isabel back with 5km to go and from there onwards it was a fight for position all the way to the finish.
Robyn de Groot made a smart move and attacked with 2km to go. The bunch hesitated for a moment and then only followed, but it was too late. She managed to keep free from the Peleton to take her biggest victory in her cycling career, with the rest of us sprinting for the line. The sprint was chaotic, trying to get through riders from the shorter distances, luckily nobody from the ladies crashed.
Results
1st Robyn de Groot (Nashua)
2nd Jenny Stennerhag (Alpha Pharm)
3rd Marissa van den Merwe(MTN)
4th Cherise Taylor (MTN)
5th Lynette Burger (Cycle Lab)
6th Yolandi du Toit (Konica Minolta)
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