Van Heerden gears up for title defence
Christoff van Heerden is confident ahead of his title defence at the Fast One 106km road cycling race in Johannesburg on Sunday.
Van Heerden, who rides for Team Bonitas, got his year off to a good start after he claimed the Gauteng Road Championships title last weekend.
“Winning the provincial champs was a great way to start off the year,” Van Heerden said on Friday.
“Our team controlled the racing well, but that was over a long distance. This Sunday the route is short and fast, which opens it up a bit for more teams to be in contention.”
Van Heerden said the Bonitas outfit was unified and confident after a solid build-up to the season.
“Besides putting in a lot of training mileage over the summer off-season, we have focussed on getting to know each other, both on and off the bike,” he said.
“Our team manager, Barry Austin, put us through some useful team-building activities and that's really bonded the team.”
Van Heerden believed his team would carry a lot of pressure on Sunday.
“We'll have eight riders on the start line, and as the only UCI Continental team in the race, the other riders are likely to expect us to make the racing."
