Mountain bikers heed call of Addo
● First stanza of Cycle Tour begins
Riders from across the country are geared up for the first instalment of The Herald Continental Cycle Tour, with the mountain bike race taking place on Sunday.
Extreme women’s champion Yolande de Villiers will be back to defend her title, but admits the race will be a lot tougher this time around.
De Villiers, who rides for Team Altes Landhaus powered by Madmacs Kawasaki, has won three national races in 2019.
“My training has been superb,” she said.
“I took a break for about two weeks in November and got back into it again early in December, so it’s been very good,” she said.
“The most important thing with mountain biking is to look after your bike.
“The weather can play a big role on the day as well, but I am ready for anything the race throws my way.”
De Villiers said she would do her best to retain the title, and also improve on her time from last year.
“It is a very strong field of women,” she said.
“With the likes of Anriette Schoeman and Siska van der Bijl, it will not be easy but I will do my best to achieve what I set out to do.”
The race, at the Addo Polo Club, will feature the 80km Extreme, the 60km Adventure and the 30km Leisure ride, in addition to a 5km and 500m kiddies’ race.
A new champion will be crowned in the men’s Extreme race after Malcolm Lange, from agency Lange Sports, confirmed that 2018 champion Gert Heyns would not be back to defend his title.
Lange said fellow DSV Pro Cycling rider Arno du Toit would be competing for the team.
Despite taking second place in the Extreme 80km race in 2018, Andrew Hill will not take part this weekend, having picked up a virus.
Hill, who races for Team TIB, said the illness had kept him off his bike for a few days and he was getting back to training only on Wednesday morning.
Another contender gunning for top spot in the men’s race will be Grahamstown’s Jason Meaton, who rides for Team Thule PE.
He managed a top-10 place in the 2018 event and will return to test his skill against some of the best mountain bikers in the country. “It’s been three weeks of hard training, and I am now tapering down pre-race,” he said.
“It’s been a good lead-up to the race. I feel as though I have had more training for this year compared with last year.
“This time I have focused a lot more on the higher intensity and race pace scenario, so strength work in addition to doing some more technical work to give myself the best chance of gaining a good result,” Meaton said.
The Extreme riders get under way at 5.45am, with the first group of Adventure competitors leaving at 6am.
The second Adventure group will leave five minutes later. E-Bikes in the Leisure race start at 6.35am, with the normal Leisure riders heading out from 6.40am.
The remaining two races, the 5km and 500m kiddies’ races, will proceed at 6:45am and 6:50am respectively.
The Herald Continental Cycle Tour road races take place next weekend.
Registered riders can collect their race packs on the following dates and venues: