There is no outright favourite to win the women’s race at Sunday’s Pick ‘n Pay Amashovashova cycle race from Pietermaritzburg to Durban – and that is a good thing.
Despite the absence of the winners from the past two editions, the starting line-up is bristling with talent, a reflection of the improved standard of women’s road cycling over the past few years. It has now reached a level that makes it virtually impossible to predict a winner.
Neither Chrissie Viljoen (2006) nor Ronel van Wyk (2005), the winners of the past two editions, will be on the start line on Sunday. But that hasn’t really affected the race much; such is the increased depth of the talent that’s emerging.
Viljoen took a break from racing and only recently started training again, while Van Wyk is on a sabbatical from racing, leaving three-time winner Anriette Schoeman (2001-03) of the Proline team as the only previous champion in the line-up.
Schoeman’s confidence is on the up following her win at the Vodacom Race for Victory last Sunday, and her sprinting experience will count strongly in her favour should the race come down to a bunch gallop.
Schoeman’s Proline teammate, Marissa van der Merwe is arguably the strongest rider in the women’s peloton at present, having won the recent hilly Powerade Dome-to-Dome Classic, but her strength may go into sheltering Schoeman for the sprint, should the race stay together.
Both will benefit from the reliable consistency of Robyn de Groot, winner of this year’s tough 150km ITEC Jock Classic. "I’ve been gradually regaining my fitness and confidence after breaking my hand in a crash back in February," said Schoeman.
"I only really started training again in May, but am undergoing intensive rehab to try and return normal mobility to my hand, which is fine for climbing, but painful on descents and when sprinting.
"I love the Amashova. It’s one of the nicest races in the country and I’ll be going all out to try and equal the record of four wins."
Lynette Burger (Cycle Lab Supercycling) is due a big win. She was second at Race for Victory and third at Dome-to-Dome and Cradle Classic. She was also runner-up at the 2006 Amashova, pipped by Viljoen on the line. Burger will have the backing of teammates Altie Clark, Cashandra Slingerland and Kim Rose, all experienced riders approaching good summer-racing form.
The CBist team has also been prominent this year with a number of top-five finishes from the likes of Lizanne Naude, Elsa Carsten and Millecia Munro with Lizette Nortje and Jeanette Naude providing some solid depth, but they’re lacking a big-race win, and will be hungry for glory on Sunday.
And then there is the powerful Konica Minolta team, led by 17-year-old Cherise Taylor, who recently won the silver medal at the junior world road race championships in Mexico.
Despite the pressure of studying for her matric exams, the Pretoria teenager won the Cradle Classic and was in the race-winning breaks at the Race for Victory and Dome to Dome events. Taylor will have teammates Yolandi du Toit, fresh from a long European racing stint, and Arien Torsius as back-up; both of whom are capable of pulling off a big win.
Du Toit won last year’s Pick ‘n Pay 94.7 Cycle Challenge with a long solo breakaway, and may just try something similar on Sunday if the conditions are right.
Expect the race to end in a bunch sprint – as it has for the past six years. Traditional cycling team tactics have become increasingly prevalent in women’s domestic racing during the past year, which means that opportunistic breakaways might succeed, but are most often neutralised by team strategy.
Poor sprinters are generally always on the lookout for a chance to escape, sometimes as late as a kilometre from the finish line. However, two factors that are likely to count against such a cheeky move succeeding on Sunday are the proximity of the race’s only long climb, and the likelihood of a coastal wind blowing.
Fox Hill, a 16km haul out of Pietermaritzburg, is a hard enough climb to split the field, but generally regarded as being too far from the end for a small escape group of strong climbers to have a good chance of staying clear.
And the SA Weather Service is predicting a fresh north-easterly wind to blow on Sunday, which could make for a mostly head-on wind, likely to discourage breakaway attempts, during the final 20 kilometres approaching to the finish at the SunCoast Casino at Battery Beach.
Late entries are still open for the 2007 Pick ‘n Pay Amshovashova, which offers full road closure along the entire route. Entries will be taken at registration, which runs from Thursday until Saturday at the Suncoast Casino Colony Conference Room.
Other events making up the weekend of cycling celebration are the East Coast Radio 40km Fun Ride, the Asishove 45km and 20km mountain bike events, the Asishove 6km Kiddies Ride, and the Mini-Shova 1km and 5km kiddies rides, and the Elite and Veteran men’s Kermesse.
For more information, visit the Amashova website.
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