after a sweet ride at the sani2c mtb stage race i didnt have much time to relax before starting the giro del capo on tuesday morning. it's south africa's biggest road stage race and made up of 4 stages. 110km, 143km, 173km and a 5.5km hill climb time trial make up the event.we entered a specialized team made up of myself, suzi, ben-melt swanepoel, craig paul, sean nick bester and dan hugo. we were a great bunch from very different cycling backgrounds. the vibe was good all week and we really had a good time.

on the first stage we rode a loop starting and finishing in the town of wellington. the stage is known for strong crosswinds and thus bunch positioning was critical. at around 40km the split came. i found myself in the front and joined 18 other rides in the break.everyone worked well together and all the major teams were present including german team kuota-indeland who were driving it hard on the flats. as we neared the finish line we rode over the baines kloof pass. it wasnt enough to decide a winner but the group did shrink to around 10 riders. a fast descent into the finish followed and i snuck in a third place finish behind strong sprinters in rene hasselbacher (safindit invitation) and malcolm lange (medscheme).

stage two saw us do three laps of the infamous vissershok circuit. with a very condensed 1500m of climbing it would suit the stronger climbers on the day and it was a stage our team really wanted to win.on the first lap the bunch split on the vissershok climb and 21 riders were now driving at the front. i had suzi along side me for company and the legs felt great on the rolling terrain. suzi was a great domestic and on the last climb he made the tempo really hard. the other climbers kevin evans and david george were very eager and attacked over the top. i followed tiaan kannemeyer (house of paint) onto their wheels and on the run in to the finish the cat and mouse began. a small group rejoined and ian mcleod was the first to attack. as i brought him back it was mtn team mate kevin evans who attacked with just over a km to go. again i just nalied him back with about 300m to go and got a brief breather before going for the line. i had a good sprint left and won my first ever road race, i was pretty stoked.i was also in the leaders jersey as both lange and hasselbacher failed to stick over the climbs.

on stage 3 we had two cat 1 climbs on the 173km circuit starting and finishing in paarl. a small group broke away before the first pass and team mates craig paul and ben melt had to do a lot of pacing to keep me in the leaders jersey. on the last climb suzi went hard and we were a group of twenty heading for the line. i launched my sprint a bit early on the day and hanco kacheloffer got me right on the line. it was super close. i managed to score a few more seconds and would go into the hill climb tt with a 14second advantage.

the hill climb tt was a tough day.david george lives in the area and traines there everyday. right behind him was the sa tt champ in kevin evans and i knew both would fly up the hill. i set a target time of 12min 10sec to ride as i rode 13min 13sec just two years ago. i managed to ride 12min 13 sec which i thaught was good enough but george came in with 11min 47 sec and evans with 11min 57 sec.both broke the old record so the going was good. i ended up third overall and very satisfied.

on sunday we lined up against lance armstrong for the cape argus cycle tour. the 109km race is seen by many as the unofficial fun ride world champs as more than 40 000 riders take part. it was very windy and it was soon clear that we would be in the gutter somewhere along the route. with around 36km to go it happened and a group of 12 went of the front. team medschem were doing all the work for their mand malcolm lange and had a lot of numbers. armstrong and darryl impey from radioshack were also up there and looking good. i knew we were going to sprint and was hoping id have a good run. with around a km to go lance asked how far we had to go and as i said "a k or so" , he launched an attack. my natural instinct was to follow even though i knew it was too far from the line in such a strong headwind.the sprinter latched on and with 300m to go they opened up.i held on for fourth behind lange,van heerden and impey.the race was realy spectacular as the course was lined with armstrong fans.the guy definitely draws a big crowd.

this week its all eyes on the epic. suzi and i are ready and cant wait!

tt file-http://connect.garmin.com/player/27051964

cape argus file-http://connect.garmin.com/player/27051949

till next week

ciao

burry