“We will probably see if we can put somebody in a break up the road, or see if we can set up last year\u2019s winner, Brad Potgieter (pictured).” These were the words of Brendon Davids who hopes that either he or a RoadCover team-mate can come out on top at the 2017 aQuell\u00e9 Tour Durban, presented by Bridge Fun Managers, on 30 April.Anthony Grote\/ Gameplan Media<\/span>
\u201cIt will be tough for Willie and I as we will be coming off the joBerg2c,\u201d said Davids earlier this week. \u201cWe are mostly using the joBerg2c and Tour Durban as a big block of training for races later on in the year. We are both planning to go to Europe and have some big races in June.<\/p>\n\u201cBCX will be the team to beat at Tour Durban I think. They are likely to have a full team taking part and so we will be outnumbered \u2026 and we don\u2019t know how Willie and I will feel. I normally come off stage races strong, so it may be good, but we are going to have to race aggressively and see how it works out.<\/p>\n
\u201cTeam BCX will have strength in numbers and have a very good team for flat, fast races. We will probably have a reduced team of four riders, but we will probably see if we can put somebody in a break up the road, or see if we can set up last year\u2019s winner, Brad Potgieter.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Tour quite often ends with a break getting away in the last 20km or so on the way back from Ballito \u2013 last year about 20 guys went up the road and stayed away, so we will see what happens.
\u201cI was fourth last year as an individual with Brad Potgieter, who is now my RoadCover teammate, taking the win, so I think we have a good chance.<\/p>\n
\u201cBCX have Nolan Hoffman and if he is closed down they have David Maree or Rynard Butler who are all quick sprinters and suited to this race.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although well known as a race winner on a mountain bike, Davids is also going to have to do some adapting to get himself ready for the joBerg2c. Having not touched a mountain bike since November last year he will be using the opening few days to get used to the fat tyres, although he is planning to defend his Compendium Hill 2 Hill title the weekend before the start in Heidelberg.<\/p>\n
But Smit should be even more concerned. He has never raced a major mountain bike event but according to Davids, his partner has a massively big engine and on the flat fast stages of the joBerg2c could be in the mix for some glory.<\/p>\n
The aQuell\u00e9 Tour Durban presented by Bridge Fund Managers will once again consist of a 105km classic road race, a 45km Fun Ride and the popular 55km Cyclocross that blends road racing with mountain biking.<\/p>\n
Crucially, the 105km race will serve as an early qualifier for the 2018 Cape Town Cycle Tour, offering ardent road racers a chance to secure their qualification for next year\u2019s event in the Western Cape.<\/p>\n
The 2017 aQuell\u00e9 Tour Durban, presented by Bridge Fund manager, takes place on Sunday 30 April. More information can be found at www.tourdurban.co.za<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In just a few months since being a contender for the South Africa Olympic mountain biking team, Brendon Davids has carved a name for himself as one of the country\u2019s top road cyclists \u2013 but even he admits he has a massive challenge ahead of him at the 2017 aQuell\u00e9 Tour Durban, presented by Bridge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":36539,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1440,959,429],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-16866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-aquelle-tour-durban","tag-brendon-davids","tag-tour-durban"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16866"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=16866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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<\/a>After racing alone in 2016, RoadCover’s Brendon Davids will have the luxury of team-mates to assist and to help him at the 2017 aQuell\u00e9 Tour Durban, presented by Bridge Fund Managers, on Sunday 30 April. Anthony Grote\/ Gameplan Media<\/span><\/p>\n