Jock Cycle Classic

[Underachiever]

BTW, The fleece top is TOPS!!!

[ASG]

JOCK NEWS:

 

Bestmed Jock eye opener for youngsters - Nicholas White

 

The Bestmed Jock classic, presented by ASG, took place this past Saturday in its traditional 3 stage form. It was just as hard as I remembered, with MTN Qhubeka's Jacques Janse van Rensburg winning overall.

 

This race is a one of contrasts, with temperatures ranging from 0 degrees through to 35 degrees later on in the day. Not to mention the long steep hills, the likes of which we haven't see in a while while training pre daylight through the winter months.

 

The cold start took everyone by surprise, and Pieter Seyffert (Westvaal BMC) took advantage of this by escaping alone and staying clear to win the 45km Barberton Nelspruit stage by 1 min 30 sec.

 

The next stage started fast and on the run down to Boulders climb, there were many attacks, well controlled by the Team of Westvaal BMC. The climb started fast, and I was soon riding behind at my own rhythm, as the leaders sped off. The stage was won by Jacques Janse van Rensburg from his team mate Ferekalsi. They finished just fast enough to overtake Seyffert for the race lead.

 

Our best rider was Willie Smit, but he was a few groups down from the leaders, and in about 15th position or so. The rest of our guys were further back, rookies at the Jock, and not so certain of the rest of the race.

 

This was perhaps not a bad thing, as once the final stage started, Martin Scheppel and Kallen Williams were not afraid to go in the attacks. Kallen eventually succeeded in a break with a Bonitas, MTN Qhubeka and club 100 rider. They gained close to a minutes lead, and the pace of the bunch was controlled by Bonitas still eyeing a possible win for Darren Lill.

 

Once the race reached the few steeper hills with 20 km remaining, the attacks started and that was the last a few of us saw of the front. Kallen was back with me, and it was then pure survival with no lights!

The race upfront was furious and eventually a large group went to the finish together, stage won by Ferekalsi of MTN which placed him in second, and the overall win going to Jacques Janse van Rensburg. Darren Lill finished third. There was very little to distance the first five or six riders on the GC, which means that the level is pretty high as Bonitas and MTN are both planned to race the Tour of Portugal in August and looking for top form!

 

For the Toyota CSA academy, the Jock was a stepping stone for the Clover tour in a few weeks time, and we had a small team, including guest junior Franklin Newton whose eyes were opened as it was his first time in Nelspruit, let alone the Jock tour!

 

Lynette Burger continued her run of peak form when she won the overall Elite women’s title at the 2012 Best Med Jock Cycle Tour in Barberton on Saturday.

 

Widely considered South Africa’s toughest one-day race, ‘The Jock’, now run over three stages, totaling 153km, is a coveted race on the South African professional race calendar. And for Burger, who races for the Toyota CSA Academy team, it turned into a challenge both on and off the bike, but ultimately gave the 31-year-old her first ever win in the iconic race.

 

Once again, the women raced with the 50-plus veteran men. The first stage, a 48km leg from Barberton to Nelspruit, saw MTN Qhubeka’s An-Li Pretorius and Karien Alberts make a strong start, claiming first and second places respectively. Burger, who was dropped on the famous ‘Hilltop’ climb, just failed to reach the lead group by the finish, but managed to claim third place, a few seconds adrift.

 

The demanding second stage, a 58km haul from Nelspruit to Kaapmuiden over the testing ‘Boulders’ climb saw the field splinter dramatically. An eager Pretorius raced aggressively from the start and only Burger and Lee-Zaan Henrichsen (EOH) were able to stay in contact with her. Pretorius then moved clear over the top of Boulders and it required a hard effort for Burger to rejoin the leading group just before the start of the descent.

 

“None of the 50+ men wanted to help me get back, not making it easy at all but I managed to claw my way back to the front and got back on just before the descent. And I immediately attacked on the first corner of the descent,” explained Burger.

 

“I am very comfortable going downhill especially with loads of corners, so I managed to open a gap and stayed away till the finish, making up for the time I lost on the first stage and gaining a couple of seconds,” added Burger.

 

Pretorius finished the stage in second place and Henrichsen was third.

 

The final stage, a 53km leg from Kaapmuiden to Barberton, was started under a cloud of confusion. The race officials had Pretorius as the overall leader by five seconds over Burger on elapsed time. But according to Burger’s team manager, David Pieterse, it was Burger who should have been leading into the final stage.

 

Alberts won the final leg ahead of Burger with Pretorius in third, giving MTN Qhubeka their second stage win. But it was Burger who was declared the overall winner. Once the officials had examined the finish line camera footage of Stage 2 – at the request of Burger – they determined that Toyota CSA Academy rider had actually won the overall title from Pretorius by two seconds.

 

“I guess over three stages and 153km, two seconds is like a couple of metres, but a win is a win. I am so happy, I’ve always dreamed about winning The Jock but never thought that it was possible. I guess anything is possible as long as you set your mind to it,” smiled an elated Burger, who will now focus on winning a medal at the Masters World Championships in Pietermaritzburg next month in the 30-34 age category.

[ASG]

Well done ag Under 23 Team!

 

Jock race report compiled by Tiaan Kannemeyer

 

Jock Cycle Challenge

Being such a long race the Jock was never going to be easy for the ag U/23 and Junior team especially with the bigger teams doing twice the amount of races in the last 2 months and riding overseas.

 

My team orders were to forget about the elite riders and watch the U/23 riders so we can show that we on the same level as those who are already riding for the big teams, but equally if they can go with the elite then go.

 

The first stage was mis-calculated by all the big teams when Peter Syffert (Westvaal BMC) went up the road and to get a 3min gap and never to be caught again and winning the stage by 1’20”. His break away made it incredibly hard on the Hill Top (pass into Nelspruit) climb as the MTN team put up a very hard tempo up the climb splitting the group in pieces. This was where I saw Kevin (Patten) was having a good day staying in the front with the leading riders. He finished the first stage with no time lost to except Syffert.

 

The 2^nd stage was controlled by Westvaal BMC till the big climb of Boulders. Here Kevin stayed with the 1^st group again till the last 100m of the climb. I told him on the decent to wait for a group of 4 riders containing Girdelstone, Syffert, Mcloud and van Zweel as it is quite long from the top to the finish and to conserve some energy for the last stage that is always the deciding stage. They worked well together only to lose a minute.

 

The last stage had a little bit of a cross wind so I gave instructions to Viehann (du Plessis) to keep Kevin out of the wind. They rode the whole stage together in a very good position till the last 20km when all the bigger teams started to attack and again the bunch was split into pieces. Kevin was still with the main riders, but as they approached the last 10km sadly he ‘ran out of steam’.

 

It was the first time this year that I saw the team riding very well for each other, so I am very happy with that. The Jock is a race better suited for older riders because of the distance, but Kevin gave a gutsy performance. He also went on the next day and WON the Hill climb.

 

Our junior rider Ruan Kruger knew it was going to be tough to do well in 150km race which and in my opinion is way too far for someone that is 16 years old. He rode a brilliant first stage by coming 1^st and riding away from the rest of the juniors, but struggled towards the end of the race.

 

At the end of the day it was good training for him for the Clover tour that starts the 8^th of August.

[Speed Racer]

 

 

Speedracer, did you ride?

Yip. Fine day. Knocked 90 min off my PB, so happy. How'd you go? Didn't see you.

[Underachiever]

Yip. Fine day. Knocked 90 min off my PB, so happy. How'd you go? Didn't see you.

 

Did it with the Mongoose as training for the CPT:-( I was in bed with flu the prior week, a really baaad one. So I was a shadow of what could have been. Suffered like a dog up Boulders, where my Epic/CPT buddy has to do some pushing. But recovered ok on the last stage where I did some Audax style riding - not too fast and not too slow.

 

Happy that the race was good for you!

[Speed Racer]

 

 

Did it with the Mongoose as training for the CPT:-( I was in bed with flu the prior week, a really baaad one. So I was a shadow of what could have been. Suffered like a dog up Boulders, where my Epic/CPT buddy has to do some pushing. But recovered ok on the last stage where I did some Audax style riding - not too fast and not too slow.

 

Happy that the race was good for you!

 

The Mongoose! Thought you had learnt from the error of your ways ;-)

 

You riding Audax this weekend?

[Q_here]

I rode my third successive Jock with a few mates, and enjoyed every minute of it - even the difficult ones. We have to date made this a team ride and try and get everyone to the finish together in one piece.

Hilltop was steep but was a breeze as it is early in the race. Boulders was a little tougher as it is warm by that stage but we managed to get over it without having to push.

The 3rd stage is always a challenge, it is harder than you'd expect even though it has no named climbs and it was as hot as hell - but it epitomizes why I love to ride. What a sense of achievement upon reaching the end - even if it was a few hours after the pros. I doubt I was the only one at the end that had to wash down the lump in my throat with a well deserved beer.

 

Thanks to the organizers for a great race - bring on Jock 2013.

 

Its amazing when you reach the end you really have a sense of achievement even when you ride the whole day!

 

a great ride with good mates!

 

Roll on 2013 and roll of a few pounds, this should help with the hills next year!!

[Underachiever]

The Mongoose! Thought you had learnt from the error of your ways ;-)

 

You riding Audax this weekend?

 

Nope, got a bug again this week, so no way that I can do 200 now. Have fun. BTW, great tiem you did on Sat.

[Speed Racer]

 

 

Nope, got a bug again this week, so no way that I can do 200 now. Have fun. BTW, great tiem you did on Sat.

 

Thanks, Mate. Sorry you won't make Sunday :-(( Hope to see you next month.