Travis has his eye on Olympic glory

HILLCREST resident Travis Stedman, who won the Amashova Cycle race for the U23 category, and finished second overall, said one of his long-term objectives is to represent the country at the next Olympics.

“I have always had a deep love for cycling. I started by exploring different disciplines until I found road cycling a few years back. Since then, I’ve been racing competitively, and I’m enjoying where it’s taking me to now,” he said.

He initially competed primarily in the Cross-Country Olympics (XCO) Mountain Bike Discipline, where he won a number of provincial and South African national titles in the youth age categories.

“Around the age of 15, I fell in love with road cycling and started focusing more of my time on road racing. In 2017, I won the National Road Race Championships, and in 2018, I won the National Road Race and Time Trial Championships in my age group,” said the dedicated Stedman.

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His first year as a junior, in 2019, Stedman won the title for the Elite Road and Time Trial Championships in the province.

“The year 2020 started well, where I was able to successfully defend the title for the Elite Road and Time Trial Championships of KZN.”

Shortly after that, the champ won the Junior category in the Cape Town Cycle Tour – he finished first in the Juniors and 13th overall with the Elites.

Last year began well for Stedman – his first year as an U23.

“I enjoyed a number of good results in the local South African Classic events.”

Among his achievements, Stedman was also selected to represent South Africa in the U23 team at the UCI Road World Championships in Flanders.

“I used this opportunity to spend additional time in Europe and spent a week in Italy training and then spent the five weeks prior to the championships racing in Belgium. I raced a number of events and finished in the top five U23s in every event. I learnt a lot during this time, which helped me prepare for the upcoming World Championships.

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“The 2021 World Championships was on a course that I believe suited me. I was physically and mentally prepared for the challenge I knew it would be, but unfortunately, I suffered some bad luck early in the race when I was caught in an early crash, resulting in a lot of time and energy being spent catching up.”

Although he admitted that it was not the result he would have wanted, the former Thomas More learner said he was happy to have completed the race and gotten a result.

The 20-year-old is part of Team Qhubeka, an overseas-based team in Italy. “We race on continental level, racing the top Italian and other European races,” he said.

“I am happy to have been chosen to join Team Qhubeka. I am looking forward to the opportunity this will afford me and to learn from racing on a permanent basis in Europe.”

He added that he is dedicated and committed to making a success of his cycling career and is aware of the sacrifices this entails.

“I believe that I would be an asset to any team as I am willing and able to not only achieve results but also work to ensure that my teammates can achieve results for the good of the team, their sponsors and supporters.”

When he is not cycling, Stedman said he enjoys a lot of watersports, like skiing. “I also enjoy playing golf.”

He added that his team and sponsors are important to him as their input and contributions enable him to fulfil his goals.

“I represent my sponsors proudly and believe that I add value to their brand by marketing their products, services and the Qhubeka Charity as much as possible,” he said.