ProTouch doubles points gap as top African team
The team had their fair share of bad luck too with Kent Main getting a double puncture, and Gustav Basson crashing and needing his stem, gears and rear wheel to be repaired.
After arriving in Swellendam from Johannesburg on Tuesday, 16 March via new airline partnership Airlink, the ProTouch team was rather surprised to be greeted by rain and mist.
The SA National Road Championships in Swellendam was a success for ProTouch, with a further 98 UCI points – doubling their points gap as the top African team to 426,32.
The overall results may not be an absolute indication of how the race panned out and the commitment each rider displayed during the race.
From the first break of the day, to the winning move along with numerous other attacks and breaks, ProTouch was represented by at least one or more riders.
The team had their fair share of bad luck too with Kent Main getting a double puncture, and Gustav Basson crashing and needing his stem, gears and rear wheel to be repaired.
These two incidents forced the team to dig deep and display their real depth, and all the hard work paid off.
Both riders made huge efforts to bounce back into the race with Kent getting help from fellow rider Rohan du Plooy, who did his job well.
Kent got back only to see the danger men had split the bunch and he immediately rode across the gap on his own to be with the race leaders again.
Gustav put in attack after attack to put the pressure on the leading bunch. No sooner had he been caught and he would attack again.
Calvin Beneke and Andries Ngrini joined the front group, and Andries put in some great attacks and sacrificed his position on the U/23 podium for the team’s goal of gold.
The next UCI event will see five of ProTouch riders competing in Africa’s Toughest Tour – Tour de Rwanda at the beginning of May.
