Jonker joins the elite

When Krugersdorp’s Chané Jonker won the Lost City Cycle Classic by a country mile last month, she made it clear that she had earned her place among the elite ranks of South African cycling.

“I’m really happy to have come away with the win,” says Jonker about her victory at the Bestmed Powerade Lost City Cycling Festival. “It’s my first major classic title.”

As an accomplished all-rounder, neither hills nor flats nor strong, gusting winds could sidetrack the 21-year-old’s single-minded focus on the prize.

“I just told myself I had 115km of opportunities,” she says.

Jonker, who signed on with Team Bestmed-ASG in February, left the field behind within the first 20km alongside Activate Drinks rider Mandy Human.

The Krugersdorp resident kicked with 10km to go, leaving Human to chase for a distant second place.

Her scintillating form was a far cry from the ill health that had forced her to withdraw from the Lowveld Tour a fortnight before.

“Going into the Lost City race I focused on the positives. I’d been training hard before I got sick so I knew that I was fit,” she says.

Taking an enforced rest and looking after her health paid dividends when race day finally came.

Interestingly, it was listening to her body that got Jonker into cycling in the first place.

“I used to be an athlete and had very bad luck with injuries, ending up with a stress fracture on my shin that kept resurfacing. The biokineticist suggested that I do some non-impact sport until my bones healed properly, so I started riding a bit with my dad,” she explains.

And thus began the sport science student’s love affair with cycling and all that it entails.

Last year, Jonker spent five months racing for Team Kenda in the United States.

She was based mainly in Texas and Pennsylvania and took part in races such as Speed Week, Nature Valley Grand Prix and the Tour of America’s Dairyland.

She says American-style racing provided the steep learning curve she needed to springboard her cycling career back home.

“There’s a lot of criterium racing and it improved my bunch-riding skills and technical abilities. The racing is fast-paced and the tours offer time trials, road stages and criteriums – something for every type of rider,” she says.

Fuelled by her experiences, she obtained good results in her first outing back on South African soil at this year’s Action Ford Krugersdorp Classic.

Jonker went on to prove her worth for the pro outfit by finishing among the top 10 at the national road championships, winning the Serengeti Cycle Challenge and powering her way to second at the Bestmed Jock Cycle Classique.

But she is far from done for the season and lists the Dome2Dome, Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge and Amashova among her remaining goals for the year.