Stellenbosch Cycle Tour 2016

2011 Burger Cycle Tour up "old" Helz
My first Burger Cycle Tour was back in 2011 on a mountain bike with slicks, starting off with a climb over the old Helshoogte Pass. 6 years later this is now my 5th attempt, the race is now called the Stellenbosch Cycle Tour and the old Helshoogte Pass has been replaced by the new Helshoogte Pass, other than that everything is still exactly the same.

This would be my first serious attempt at this race since the 2013 race. STCT 2014 was a go-slow due to illness and STCT 2015 was a no-go due to illness. Luckily this time round I was healthy but for the first time since 2013 I was not seeded with the elite ladies. I  had to drop back to 1A - I had a bit of to work to do to move up in the seedings again! With me in the starting chute was Bernie Stopforth, one of the best climbers of our BP Kenridge Training group.

With the Helshoogte climb right at the start of the race this is one of the few races I make the effort to properly warm-up before the start, nothing like losing your group in the first kilometer of the race to spoil your day!

Bernie & I chasing after the girls up "new" Helz
We were off at 6h05, exactly one minute after the elite lady bunch (%) which is not nearly a big enough gap when determined 1A chasers are behind %! About 20 of us broke away from the rest of 1A bunch on the Helshoogte climb, the stronger climbers caught % halfway up Helshoogte while the rest of us caught % bunch at the Wemmershoek turn-off..

We were only 20km into the race but in my mind my day was won. I now had a 1 minute advantage on % bunch and I only had to wheel-suck and finish within sight of the others to beat everyone in % (and most of 1A). So I was happy to just sit in the bunch and be alert to a possible break-away.

Likeliest place for a break-away was the long climb out of Wellington to Windmeul on the R44 but unlike 2013 the pace in the group up the climb was manageable and very few riders dropped off, same on the Lievland and Remhoogte climbs close to Stellenbosch. I was still sitting with the group when we turned sharp left into Stellenbosch at the Cloetesville traffic lights and managed to finish within sight of the sprint, meaning that for once in my life I beat everyone in % (although I had to share that honour with a few other 1A riders).



My finishing time was 2h31m, 133th place out of 4000 riders. Most likely the best result I can ever hope to achieve for this race. The result gave my seeding a nice bump and I will be starting in @ bunch in the Argus, good enough to make another proper Sub-3 attempt!




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