Johannesburg – Team Bonitas road captain Hanco Kachelhoffer expects a tough challenge at the inaugural Mzansi Cycle Tour, but he is confident the team will adapt and perform well at the UCI-sanctioned event.
“The biggest challenge for Team Bonitas will be to change our racing strategy for the Mzansi Tour,” Kachelhoffer said on Thursday.
“We know that we will have to step up our performances to the next level if we want to achieve good results in the tour.”
Team Bonitas riders have dominated the local road scene this year and have won six races thus far, which include first and third place at last week's Cape Argus.
This positions them as firm favourites for the five-day tour which starts at the Kruger National Park and finishes at Montecasino in Fourways, from April 17 to 21.
Kachelhoffer, however, admitted the tour's long format presented a new obstacle for them as they were used to racing on fast, flat and short courses.
“At the end of last year our team was structured to be competitive for the local one-day classics,” Kachelhoffer said.
“In the Mzansi Tour we will be racing a stage of 183km, two of 160km, one of 140km and the shortest stage of 117km.
“In all five stages we will be challenged by various stiff climbs. Most of the local professional riders are no longer used to racing such long distances and doing so much climbing in one day.”
In spite of that, Kachelhoffer was quietly confident that they would be able to reinvent their strategies before the tour.
“I have studied the stage profiles for the different days of the tour and have come to the conclusion that it is not purely a climber’s tour,” he said.
“It actually suits an all-rounder better – a rider who can keep up with the best on short, sharp climbs and still have enough left in his legs to contest a sprint to the line. Most of us are able to do just that.” – Sapa