Trek SA XC racer James Reid opened his 2014 season with a victory in the U23 men’s African Continental Championships on Saturday afternoon in Durbanville, Western Cape. Coming in a strong second place was new recruit, Brendon Davids, also racing for Trek SA, just over 2 minutes apart.
“I’m really happy about my first victory for the year,” smiled the 21 year old. “I felt really good over the summer and I’ve put in some quality work during the ‘sunshine months’ here in Cape Town. I wanted to kick things off strongly this year, and I put a couple of new training strategies that I’ve been using to the test.”
It was Reid’s second U23 Continental Championship win, having captured the title previously in 2011, in Jonkershoek, Stellenbosch. The Elite National Marathon champion rode a decisive race, setting a blistering pace on the start lap, leaving his rivals trailing while working his way through the Elite field who had started five minutes ahead of the U23 field due to a UCI rule.
“I wanted to go hard from the gun, as this year I know everybody is going to be slicing and dicing lap times, with the Commonwealth Games at the back of their minds. It was hard to race a time trial style race, but in the end it proved to be a good one for me.”
Behind Reid, Davids rode a tactically smart race to work his way through the field into second place. “I felt great today, had a couple minor issues, but I gave it everything but today I’m happy to have passed my title onto a deserving winner,” remarked Davids, the 2012 winner.
On Saturday, Reid rode his Trek Superfly Pro SL 29er in dry, windy weather. He left nothing to chance and unleashed his power on the start lap against rivals Arno Du Toit and Gert Heyns. Alone for most of the seven lap race, Reid managed to catch all except four riders in the Elite field, and in doing so, set the fastest lap time
of the day – 11m50s.
His lap splits compared favorably with those of the elites for every lap, proving this young man has big ambitions this year. “It was a hard, physical course, with lots of ups and downs, and quite steep in sections. The snappy corners were great for the hardtail, it was the perfect bike for this course” said Reid.
U23 African Continental Championships Durbanville, South Africa, 26 January 2014
Leading Results:
1. James Reid – RSA (Trek Bikes SA) 1.23.54
2. Brendon Davids – RSA (Trek Bikes SA) @ 2min 8sec
3. Arno Du Toit – RSA (ASG/PY Cycling) @ 2min 41sec
Well done, hope you have a great year. Hope you can defend your Transkaroo title this year again.