Please Give Us Longer Races . . .
Race Report : Advendurance Media
Please give us longer races so that we can be better prepared when we have to compete in the World Marathon Mountain Bike Championship.
That was the request made by South Africa’s top mountain bikers two years ago.
Kevin Evans (MTN), who currently dominates marathon racing in South Africa, argues that it does not make sense to become a South African marathon champion by winning a race over 70 kilometres when, at world championships, riders compete in races of 100 kilometres and longer.
MTN has always made it clear that, as a sponsor, they believe in the principle that the cyclist’s needs should always come first. That is why they immediately complied with the request for longer races made by Evans and some of the other top mountain bikers.
From the beginning of this year, an extra category for elite men was added to the MTN series, in which all races will be 110 kilometres or longer.
Evans arrived back from Austria on Tuesday, after having finished 8th overall in the World Marathon Championship. This is the best performance ever by a South African mountain biker.
“I really want to thank MTN for making the ultra-races part of their series. The experience of regularly racing 100 kilometres or longer, has certainly helped me in my preparation for the World Championship.
“For the first time I was confident right until the end of the race. Actually, I was in contention to win a medal right up to the last tricky descent.
 “This descent was the turning point. It was quite rocky and, to make things worse, it was also very wet and slippery. I knew I could make up time by racing flat out on the downhill, but there were big risks involved in doing that. I could either crash and hurt myself or pick up some mechanical failure. In the end I decided to play it safe and rather defend my top-ten position.”
Roel Paulissen (Belgium) won the race.
Evans finished 49th and 30th in previous World Championships.
There is no time for Evans to take a break. On Sunday it will be business as usual when he and the rest of South Africa’s top mountain bikers will compete in the MTN Blockhouse Ultra-marathon over 110 kilometres. It is the 5th event in the series.
According to Evans, he does not have pleasant memories of this race. When he raced the Blockhouse route before, the Highveld’s legendary high altitude and dry conditions ‘killed’ him.
“I finished 8th then, but being older, my body has hopefully learned to adapt to these conditions. Luckily I don’t have to win on Sunday to keep my chances of winning the series overall alive. If I could manage a top-three position, I would still be on track. Even though I only got back on Tuesday, I am confident that I can manage to do that.”
Because the MTN Blockhouse Race is labelled the ‘fast one’ of the series, Evans predicts that whoever wants to win, will have to be able to out-think his rivals.
“I will bet my money on it that race tactics will decide who will be the winner and who will finish second.”
The big battle to be the first across the finishing line will be between Evans, Ben-Melt Swanepoel (Specialized), Brandon Stewart and Max Knox (DCM Chrome), Francois Theron and Philip Buys (Garmin-adidas).
The women’s race could boil down to a battle royal between the three ‘Y’s’ of South African mountain biking. They are Yolandé Speedy (IMC), Yolandé du Toit (Konica-Minolta) and, if she is racing fit, Yolandé de Villiers (Toyota Cyclelab).
Speedy is the firm favourite but, after Du Toit’s good performance in Harrismith where she managed to outride Speedy during most of the race, nothing can be taken for granted.
Photo credits: Zoon Cronje
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