The World Cycling Centre Africa MTN-Qhubeka Feeder Team riders will be competing in the KZN Autumns Series on Monday 27 April, 1 May and 3 May. Faces from far left: Clint Hendricks, Jayde Julius, Oliver Stapleton-Cotton, Gustav Basson, Stefan de Bod, Graeme Ockhuis (not competing) Nicholas Dlamini. \/\/ craigdutton.com.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cI feel that we are going to be able to be more competitive in a longer race that requires a bit more endurance. Look at Cavendish in The Cape Town Cycle Tour, if he had to do a 250km ride right now I doubt any one of us would\u2019ve been able to overtake him,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The team is a close-knit one, and Van Zyl is proud of how much respect is shared amongst them all, especially with regards to training. \u201cOf course the guys have their own individual zones, but they leave from the same place, on the same route, as one, at the same time everyday. And with living and training together we become a family and look out for one another. By having such great respect for each other off the bike, it also helps them have respect for their fellow riders as well. It aids to helping them ride more as a team,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Van Zyl said that the WCC Africa has brought out riders from the Congo to train and compete as well. \u201cWe have 20 riders from the Congo here \u2013 18 of them we have put into three teams to ride. Some of the guys arrived on 12 April and the rest arrived on the 22nd.<\/p>\n
One of the most trying, sometimes frustrating, but mostly entertaining things about riders from all over Africa, Van Zyl mentioned, is that often there are a few language barriers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is not one rider that speaks English, a lot speak French, so that I can more or less speak and understand, but some only speak their native tongue. When the guys first arrived, I thought that they were yelling at each other. After listening to them for a while I quickly discovered that this is their language. It\u2019s just a little bit louder and more expressive.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the team\u2019s participation in the UCI 1.2 Category racing, Van Zyl said:<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are absolutely thrilled and so excited to race. They don\u2019t have races like these over there, so to have small European training standards and training with pro teams, it\u2019s excellent. The guys went out training today with the MTN-Qhubeka Feeder team, and the smiles on their faces and looks of encouragement amongst the group were just priceless,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been able to take them to the University to test their strength, flexibility and power. This way they are able to push themselves to the max and see what they are truly capable of. We need to build Africa, and this is the way to do it,\u201d said van Zyl.<\/p>\n
He also mentioned that the team would be competing in the aQuelle Tour Durban on Sunday 26 April. \u201cThey really want to win. It\u2019s going to be fun. Dean Edwards (Team Abantu Team Principal) and I are really good friends, and the friendly competiveness between the team managers is almost as enjoyable as the racing itself,\u201d he laughed.<\/p>\n
Cycling South Africa and its partners and with the support of KwaZulu-Natal Sport and Recreation launched the KZN Autumn Series, which is a series of three UCI 1.2 road races that will take place in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa on 27 April, 1 May and 3 May 2015. All races except one will accommodate Elite Men and Women riders and as per the local regulations, the team sizes will be restricted to six riders per team for each of the races. The KZN Autumn Series is listed on the Continental Calendar of the Union Cycliste International (UCI) as a Category: ME (Men Elite) & WE (Women Elite), 1.2. \/ UCI Africa Tour event.<\/p>\n
For more information about the KZN Autumn Series, click here: http:\/\/www.cyclingsa.com\/kzn-autumn-series<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"South Africa\u2019s Elite cyclists are gearing up for the start of the KZN Autumn Series \u2013 a series of three UCI Category 1.2 road cycling races \u2013 taking place in KwaZulu-Natal on 27 April (in Pietermaritzburg), 1 May (Pietermaritzburg to Margate) and 3 May (Margate). World Cycling Centre Satellite-Africa Director, Jean-Pierre van Zyl will have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":48469,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[231,4113],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-20105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-cycling-south-africa","tag-kzn-autumn-classics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20105","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=20105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20105\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20105"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=20105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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