Western Province Road Cycling Championships 2011

Race Report by Sipho Mona.
Cape Town, November 5, 2011

The annual Western Province Championships were held at the Windmeul Primary School in the Paardeberg area on Saturday, November 5. Velokhaya had brought a strong contingent of 12 riders representing the organisation in the u/14, u/16, Junior Men and u/23 categories.

u/14
Our first representatives for the day were the u/14's with three riders in the pack and 40 kilometres to do around the circuit. Things didn't go well as one of the riders, Phaphama Kepu, punctured in the first kilometre leaving him no choice but to turn back to the start due to the fact that we didn't have spare wheels or tubes for his bike(24"). It was now left to the two remaining riders to battle it out for Velokhaya but with more than half way to go, Abulele Xuza could not quite keep up the pace and dropped off the main bunch. Siphosethu Ophila was now the last hope for Velokhaya and with more than 10 kilometres to go, rode well until the sprint finish were he managed a hard fought 3rd position with his chain slipping while sprinting in the final 200 metres. A great ride from Siphosethu and well done on bringing home the bronze medal to Velokhaya.

U/16
With one rider representing the organisation in this category (Nicholas Dlamini) our fingers were crossed from the start, especially hoping that he doesn't experience any mechanical problems during his ride! The 80km race started with a 3 man breakaway with our rider chasing the trio with the rest of the bunch. After the first lap the gap had increased to about a minute or so and halfway during the second lap, the breakaway was caught by 5 riders. Nicholas was in the group and was the only rider from the break who managed to stick with the five riders. They then made their way towards the finish and with 15km to go, managed to shake of 3 riders over the undulating hills of the circuit. By then it was obvious that Nicholas was going to get a medal but did better than that - in the last 5km he shook off the remaining two riders. The race ended up being a 3-man bunch sprint which Nicholas powerfully surging past his contenders to take the first place and win the U/16 category in the WP Champs. A very well done to the rider who totally deserves the victory.

Junior Men
In the Jnr Men category we had seven riders representing the organisation, and from the start of the race Mthetheleli Boya was in the first break of the day which almost lasted the whole 105km. With his teammates unfortunately experiencing a lot of technical problems he was left exposed and had to fight alone to make it to the finish. Being in the break for more than 70km, his body finally gave in with around 25km to go due to the relentless attacks from the other teams. With no one to support him he surrendered and the main bunch eventually caught up with him. With two of his teammates in the bunch they were left to fight it out for minor positions as 1,2 and 3 were spoken for. This was not a true reflection of how the Jnr Men perform but just a series of unfortunate events in the race. Nonetheless a well done to the whole team for their brave performance.

U/23
With the last of the races to go and only one rider representing us in this category, Thando Zothe had to work hard to make it to the finish with the 'big guns'. But through his determination he pulled out all the stops and was involved in the first break of the day which involved 4 elite and one other rider (u/23). They managed to manoeuvre through the 130km route with no problems until Thando unfortunately suffered a puncture with over 30km to go and had to stop and get a spare wheel from the vehicle. The break had now left him and he had to wait for the chasing bunch and continue to ride hard but unfortunately could not bridge the gap back to the break. He managed to come third in the u/23 category which is a good ride from him considering all the obstacles he encountered during the race.

A very good ride from all the riders who represented the organisation on the day, and well done to all, including the management team.