Emperors, from good to bad

The 2009 Emperors Classic was presented with a new route. Instead of heading out towards Bapsfontein, through Tembisa and up 3 steps (Allandale), we headed out on the N12, N17 towards Nigel, back up through Springs and home. The first 25km’s would be the last 25km’s coming back which had a few drags leading to the finish.

As always the pace was furious right from the start, flat and fast, so this was expected. 12km’s in to the race one of the riders (OB) ripped his pedal off his crank almost taking Craig Harvey (Bulk Pack Trek) and myself out and then proceeding to swerve back in to the bunch while trying to maintain his balance. Don’t know what happened to OB but if I can help you in any way, your pedals on the N17 somewhere.

Climbing on to the N17 there were a few attacks going off the front but nothing serious. At this point in time for a break to succeed would prove to be very hard; the wind was a little stiff coming from the front and on a flat route like today it just seemed impossible to stay away. Coming off the N17 we hit Heidelberg road, this section the road surface was very rough and this was one of a few drags (2.5km at 2%) nothing serious. Here Johann Pretorius (MTN/Club 100) started driving the pace with me firmly stuck behind his wheel, trying to keep the pace high and eliminate any wheel suckers early on, but to no avail, my legs were still asleep and with a good push I thought they might wake up. At about 40km’s we hit the only real climb/drag of the day (1.5km at 4.5%). Thought I’d give it a dig here and launched off the front and started opening a small gap but my legs wanted to know nothing. I was shortly joined by Johan Labuschagne (Cyclelab), Jacques Fullard (Team Focus) and Craig Harvey (Bulk Pack Trek) who comfortably rode me off and then getting swallowed up by the pack. This was the break of the day and at this point I was happy and comfortable with the situation and it felt as if Bulk Pack had control of the race, sitting 3rd, 4th wheel in the chase both Marco van Biljoen (Bulk Pack Trek) and myself knew that if the leaders were caught we’d be fresh enough to jump off the front to try create something, but things took a turn for the worst at 25km’s to go.

Having finally caught the break after some time, we joined up with the 50km fun riders, Bulk Pack Trek first lost Marco van Biljoen to a puncture, then 5km’s later 2 riders (Craig Harvey/Mark Ramos), crashed and had to chase hard to get back in to the group. I had my work cut out; the pace started heating up amongst the fun riders, so concentration was vital. Coming off the N17 and back up Rondebult, with 14km’s to go I found myself in a 4 man break with Johan Labuschagne (Cyclelab), Team Focus and someone. I thought this could be it to the end but with the wind hitting us from the front and the cohesion not quite there our 5 minutes of glory was a thing of the past and with 7km’s to go the hard efforts started taking its toll.

At the end it came down to a bunch finish with Jacques Fullard (Team Focus) showing the rest a clean set of heels. A pretty easy race with only 600m’s of climbing over the 100km’s but tough to get away with it being so flat so a bunch sprint was always on the cards. Some bad luck for us but we were in the mix and trying to make the racing hard and that’s what counts. Next weekend see’s us at the Liberty which should be interesting considering there’s a kick or two with maybe a little bit of wind here and there.

Later.

Vets 30+ Results:
1. Jacques Fullard
2. Jeffrey Kriel
3. Hansie Joubert
4. James Louter
5. Gary Rabie