The Kargo Pro MTB Team dominated the podium at the 2016 KZN Road Cycling Championships in Eston, Pietermaritzburg this past weekend.
Through sterling teamwork the riders ensured their first race for the season ended in a win. Brendon Davids took the coveted first place, followed closely by team mates Alan Hatherly (4th Overall / 1st U23 Men) and Marco Joubert (6th Overall / 2nd U23 Men).
This marks the first road title for the mountain bike team, proof of their versatility and growing experience as pro cyclists.
“The race went off pretty well,” says Davids. “Having tried for three years to nab the overall title, I always came up just short while trying to cover all the attacks from the Abantu road team. This year I was fortunate enough to have three teammates in the race, which definitely changed things up a little.”
The team got two riders – Hatherly and Joubert – into the early breakaway at the 30km mark, while Davids and Warr sat in the main field for another 15km.
“I then realized that if I wanted any shot at taking the win, I needed to bridge the gap to the breakaway as it was steadily increasing the time gap over the main field,” Davids explains.
He successfully reached the break and together the three Kargo teammates took up the majority of the pacing to build the gap to just over 1 minute 30 seconds.
“With 10km to go, Alan and I found ourselves to be the ‘marked men’ in the group, and thus we sent Marco up the road to allow us to recuperate before the final climb to the finish,” Davids continues.
“Marco was eventually reeled in, which was counter moved by Alan and allowed me to have the final move of the day. I managed to attack over the last climb and go solo to the end,” he concludes.
Cayde Muldoon also made an appearance on the podium in his first official Kargo outing with a silver medal in the Junior Men’s race.
The ladies further added to the podium tally – Frankie du Toit was ecstatic with her 2nd place U23 and Elite Women finish and Hayley Smith was 4th Elite Women.
“We are very happy with the win,” says Team Founder and Principal, Shaun Peschl. “The team has been hard at work preparing for the new season and to obtain five medals in their first outing is a phenomenal start to what we hope will be our most successful year yet.”
Next the team will be travelling to the Underberg in Kwazulu Natal for the Drak Descent MTB stage race from 23rd – 24th January 2016.
Well done!