Preen, Van Schoor ready to tackle The Herald Cycle Tour
IN GOOD SHAPE: The Herald Cycle Tour defending women’s champion, Hayley Preen, is ready to defend her title in the 106km classic on Sunday. Photo: Richard Pearce
Professional cyclist Hayley Preen will be gunning for a third crown when she lines up to tackle the 38th edition of The Herald Cycle Tour’s 106km classic in Gqeberha on Sunday.
The event, hosted in conjunction with the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality, will feature two race distances including the flagship 106km as well as the 55km pursuit.
Both distances will also feature tandem categories alongside the 2km and 500m junior race distances with close to 1,400 riders expected to compete across the respective distances.
Preen, a two-time HCT road race champion, was in good spirits ahead of Sunday’s race, saying her preparations had gone well and she was in good shape.
But the Freewheel Cycology rider is well aware that the win will not come without its challenges, with Bay cyclist Kelsey van Schoor also looking to put in an impressive performance in what will be her first taste of the full distance race.
“I love the race, the hospitality is always good and I love the route, in particular the second half of the course,” Preen said.
“Winning in 2020, it was a big sprint at the end and was my first win in a big race, I started sprinting from about a kilometre out, which is crazy for a sprint.
“Last year, the race started quite slowly and I just wanted things to happen, so I attacked at about 15km into the race and next thing I knew I was on my own, so I just kept going.
“The gap wasn’t too big until about halfway through the course, before the climbs which worked really well for me through the smaller road sections with a lot of turns, I pushed quite hard there and then suddenly they couldn’t see me, then the gap went from 30 seconds to about three minutes.
“So looking at Sunday, it will all depend, on the day, who is in the field and it will be exciting if it is not just a sprint finish.
“I would like to do something before we get into the finish stretch, it would be great,” she said.
Meanwhile, Van Schoor, who finished in second place in the HCT Mountain Bike race in Addo last weekend, said that gave her much confidence coming into this weekend.
“I will be going for the Ultimate Quest (fastest combined times across the mountain bike and road races), so I am pretty excited about what could happen this weekend,” Van Schoor said.
Riders must have entered for the Ultimate Quest to qualify for those placings.
“I am feeling good coming into the road race, having a little bit of racing in my legs will certainly be a bonus.
“I don’t see much difference in preparations between MTB and road racing, I suppose it’s just about making sure I am used to the position I will be in on a road bike which is different to how you would be on a mountain bike, but the training itself is pretty similar,” she said.
Looking at her potential opponents, who will be tough competitors in their own right, Van Schoor, who races under the Team Customized banner said it would be quite special if she could claim a podium finish, but knows that the stacked women’s field will not make it easy to achieve.
Meanwhile, the men’s race will see Team RDX rider Theuns van der Bank return to defend the title he won in 2023.
He will face some tough competition from the likes of former champion and Team Aluwani rider Nolan Hoffman, Rogan Smart and fellow RDX teammate Neil Rossouw, among others.
Race pack collection will take place on Friday, from 2pm until 7pm and on Saturday between 9am and 1pm, both at the race village situated at Pollok Beach.