ProTouch narrowly misses a podium finish
It became clear to ProTouch riders Jayde Julius and HB Kruger that it was going to be a tough outing in the Cape.
The presence of the bigger Western Cape cycling teams at the Perdeberg Race resulted in the race starting relatively steady with a couple of attacks going off the front, but none sticking or making a significant impact on the movement of the bunch.
It became clear to ProTouch riders Jayde Julius and HB Kruger that it was going to be a tough outing in the Cape.
The three laps of 50km in the second half were the hardest part and suited ProTouch’s dynamic duo better. Each lap they tried their luck to get a group going to get away from the big bunch.
After a lot of failed attempts, the last lap would be the significant lap. They put in all their efforts within the last 25km on a couple of drags, and got away from the peloton with eight other riders, three from Madmacs, two riders from Hartlief Deli, one AlfaBodyworks, one Uci Africa rider and one solo rider.
The group rolled together well in the beginning but later started losing momentum, and the ProTouch riders started to play a bit of cat and mouse. HB decided to attack to see how the other riders would respond, and soon after the team dropped a couple of riders.
Keeping the pressure on for a hard race to the finish line, the front group split up a little bit in the last 5km. Jaydé was in front and HB could police some of the riders in the back.
HB then moved across to the front guys and made a big effort to keep his team ahead, with three riders chasing hard from behind.
With the three riders from Madmacs working hard together, Jaydé was forced to open his sprint a bit sooner than ideal, and he settled for fourth place and HB was seventh.
