Clive Seebregts takes SA Title for TeamAurecon after busy week of racing

Last week the team had quite a busy schedule of racing, starting with Pro Classic Series Race #3 and ending with the EP Herald Cycle Tour. In the middle of this was a small matter of the National Championships in Port Elizabeth.

Pro Classic Race #3:

The Pro Classic Race #3 was the longest of the 5 events but on paper was not the toughest, as the main challenge, the climb of Botmanskop was quite early in the race. We had an early break form with Jacques (Panorama) making the move, this made the race easier for the rest of the team as we could sit in a little and not force the race.

Jacques (Panorama) driving the break

Jacques (Panorama) lost contact with the break on the climb of Botmanskop and the rest of the break was bought back just after the climb, with the help of Jacques (Caledon) and Anderson Transport.

TeamAurecon sitting in the bunch

Botmanskop Pass

The race looked to be ending in a bunch sprint, until we were 5km out, 2 riders slipped off the front of the bunch, as they were not a major threat on GC all the team looked at each other and this created an advantage to them. With 3 km to go Robbie, Clive and I moved to the front and tried to bring the break back but it was too late. The race for 3rd was a bunch sprint and we misjudged it, Clive finishing 6th and me back in 10th.

Bunch Sprint - (Clive 6th - Boyd 10th)

The week of racing had not started according to plan ……

South African National Road Championships:

Next up was our TeamAurecon road trip to Port Elizabeth (PE) for the National Road Championships and EP Herald.

We left Cape Town early on Thursday morning and drove 9 hours to PE, arrived at our accommodation around 3pm and heading out on our bikes for a short leg loosener and to register for Friday mornings race.

The wind was howling, we ended up doing a 50km ride with a detour onto part of the EP Herald circuit and what we thought was the SA Championships circuit. At registration the organisers had put Clive and I in the wrong Category which was going to cause some minor issues. This was the start of what was to be a very disorganised event!!!

We had dinner, and at 9pm we were still running around sorting out our race numbers, all this for a 7am start. Once we had sorted out our numbers we were told the race circuit was going to be changed due to safety concerns and public complaints due to road closures and the race was delayed to an 8am start.

Clive - time to focus

On the morning of the race there was more chaos, the race was delayed further due the new circuit not being safe or ready – race start delayed to 9am.

SA Road Champs - Chaos at the start

Eventually the race started at 9:40am, now on an 8km circuit, 80 km with over 2000 meters of vertical climbing, this was going to be a short but tough race with no recovery areas on the circuit.

SA Road Champs - About to start

On lap 1, 2 riders got away to created an early break, each lap on the climbs the race got harder, a strong rider was sure to win this event.

On lap 4, Jac-Louis Van Wyk (JHB) rode off the front on a flat part of the circuit between the 2 climbs, Clive Seebregts and Rob Quinn went with, this was a dangerous move but great for our team with Clive now well positioned.

SA Road Champs - Clive makes the main move

These 3 riders join the 2 up the road to create a break of 5. Near the start of lap 7 another move came, this time from Diakin’s David Garrett, Diakin were not represented in the front group so needed to do most of the work. Garrett was followed by Robbie Rodrigues and Jacques Fullard along with a couple of other that could not stay with and this created a second group off the front of the bunch.

SA Road Champs - Robbie makes 2nd move

SA Road Champs - Boyd in Bunch

The bunch was now riding just to finish and had shrunk to about 15 riders, with a 1 1/2 laps to go i got off as the break was not getting caught.

The sprint finish was on a little rise, but a wide road, with about 300m to the line Clive opened his sprint and Jac-Louis was not able to come close to him, Clive claiming Gold, Jac-Louis – Silver and Jacques Fullard slipped away from Robbie and David Garrett to claim bronze, Robbie was 4th – What an awesome result for Clive, Robbie and TeamAurecon.

SA Road Champs - Rob Quinn wins 30-34, Clive Seebregts wins 35-39

The prize giving and medal ceremony was another chaotic affair but we were all on a high and went out for a good celebration, we had Saturday as a recovery day before the EP Herald.

TeamAurecon - Clive in his National Champion's Jersey with Robbie and Boyd

EP Herald:

Sunday morning was EP Herald and we woke up to a misty wet day. As we are not yet a registered CAT1 Team with the CSA we ended up riding in the CAT2 race, same race just in the 2nd group.

Arthur Parsons - Team Manager and Designated Driver - EP Herald

After about 25km i was feeling rather flat and was not having a great day but then by the looks of things neither were many others, we went over the first climb at about 40km and i really struggled over, just off the back of the front split but got back on over the other side. It was wet and windy and on some narrow roads.

By the time we got to the last climb of the day 35km from the finish i had recovered and was feeling much better, moving up into the top 10 in the bunch. Robbie made a move with 3 other riders which was great from TeamAurecon as this forced the teams like Diakin, New Mark Hotels and Dimension Data to do the chasing.

EP Herald - Mist and Rain was the order of the day

Clive and I sat in the top 10 monitoring the action as we hit speeds above 60km along the coast in chase of the 4 man break. The break eventually broke up and left Robbie with 1 other rider and we caught them about 3 km from the finish. With still about 40 riders in the bunch the sprint was going to be a dangerous one so we all tried to stay as far forward as possible and out of trouble.

The wind was now a cross wind (left to right), the bunch was in the right hand gutter and I got a little boxed in with about 1km to go so had to back off and go the long way around in the wind. the sprint was opened up with about 600 meters to go by Dimension Data. I came around the left onto Mark Beneke’s wheel but ran out of road trying to come over him and i finished 3rd. After the 25km breakaway Robbie was still able to claim a top 10 with 9th overall and Clive finishing in the bunch.

Another great day out for TeamAurecon and another podium finish to end an awesome week.