From Harties to Paris to Gold Coast
LOTS of exciting cycling on show this weekend with the action spread all over the world, from the national downhill championships at Hartebeespoort, to the infamous mountain bike event on road bikes from Paris to Roubaix in France, to loads of action Down Under at the Commonwealth Games.
Most people outside of the gravity community are probably completely unaware of the downhill champs because it seems Cycling South Africa has absolutely no interest in promoting some events (unless they are taking entries for it of course).
From what I can glean from a lot of researching, it seems the second leg of the SA National Series will take place today at the Hartebeespoort Cableway, with the national champs tomorrow at the same venue (although the Cycling SA website lists SA Champs as today).
I have not been able to find any entry lists so I am not too sure who is riding, but I would guess Greg Minnaar is not taking part, which is likely to leave the door open for the usual suspects to fight for the national title.
Johann Potgieter is likely to be defending his title with Stefan Garlicki aiming to go one better from his 2017 result and regain the title he won in 2016 and 2015. Others who are sure to be in contention include the Philogene brothers, Christopher and Jonathan, and the McMaster siblings, Cullen and Struan.
Of course we also cannot let the Paris Roubaix weekend go past as the roadies test their mountain biking skills on the cobblestones of France. There is a reason this race is known as the Hell of the North and I suggest you kick the cat off the couch, send your wife (or husband) off to her (his) mother’s for tea,banish the kids to the jungle gym and enjoy the drama.
And then there is the Commonwealth Games … the final two days of sprinting take place today and tomorrow, and so far there has not been much to celebrate on the track for South Africans, but we can always hope.
However, later this week there may be a chance for us to grab a slice of the cycling glory.
Hopefully Alan Hatherly can get a medal. I think he must be a strong contender for at least a bronze, butI cannot see him getting the better of Sam Gaze and his New Zealand compatriot Anton Cooper, while Aussie Dan Mcconnel will also be in the mix.
In the women’s event Emily Batty is my favourite for the win (in the absence of her Canadian countrywoman Catharine Pendrel), while I suspect UK’s Annie Last will do well and she is the highest ranked rider in the field. South African hopes will probably rest on the shoulders of Last’s Epic partner, Mariske Strauss, if she has fully recovered from her Epic issues, while Cherie Redecker might just pull off a surprise.
Other riders known to SA followers of MTB are Michelle Vorster and Tristan de Lange of Namibia.
On the road we will be hoping Nic Dlamini and former mountain biker Brendon Davids can do something in the time trial, and then help the road race guys pull off a surprise (maybe launch Nolan Hoffman to a win?), but in both cases I suspect the Aussies and English teams will dominate the action.
On the track, today the action started at 5.30am and unless you were the first reader of the Independent on Saturday this morning or a very devoted reader of this column and grabbed your copy to read before your early morning ride, you have probably already missed some of the action.
Early this morning Nolan Hoffman, Joshua van Wyk and David Maree take (took) part in the 15km scratch qualifying, and then tomorrow Maree, Hoffman and Steven van Heerden will ride the 40km points qualifying. The 15km final is at 1.47pm this afternoon and the 40km final is the final track event at 1.01pm tomorrow afternoon.