Posthumus elated with podium at cycle tour

Local cyclist Cullen Posthumus continued his rich vein of form at the Cape Town Cycle Tour with a fifth-place finish in the U17 48km race in Cape Town on March 10.

The 15-year-old from Airfield clocked 02:08:11 in a race won by Josh Johnson with Den Woolley in second and Faraz Khatib in third.

The Hoërskool Hans Moore learner said the race was hard from the gun with Johnson attacking early and again up Smuts Winkel.

“I stuck on his wheel and got in a five-man breakaway but past the top of the climb legs started cramping a lot due to poor nutrition. My one bottle fell 5km into the race and I forgot my gels at the hotel. I raced with half a bottle for the entire race, which was a big lesson,” he said.

Just like he did at the provincial champs in January, the youngster didn’t allow this setback to cost him. He soldiered on in a four-man chasing group and rejoined the leaders at Chapman’s Peak where Johnson launched another attack.

“I stuck with him for a quarter of the climb and the cramps came back again. For the rest of Chapman’s Peak, I was fighting for the last podium position with one rider. I launched my last attack on Little Suikerbossie to secure the last podium position and went solo for 20km.”

He said he was happy with his performance and hopes to remember his nutrition and gels at the Emperors Palace Road Classic in Kempton Park on March 24.

“Given the conditions, I’m really happy to take fifth place and land on the podium. My nutrition was wrong but this is how you learn. It feels good to take a podium on my first Cape Town Cycle Tour.

“Josh and the rest of the guys are excellent riders. I learnt a lot and it was great racing with them. I hope I will be fortunate enough to race again next year,” Posthumus concluded.

Team Honeycomb impresses in main race

Despite a powerful team performance in the 109km men’s race, Team Honeycomb Pro Cycling from Northmead, fell short of the podium place after Marc Pritzen finished sixth after clocking an impressive 02:31:37.

Bradley Scott fell two places outside the top 10 and Jaco Van Dyk was 32nd while Casper Kruger finished 40th. Johann Trotzky was 72nd.

Main Kent won the race in 02:05:31 while Tiffany Keep landed the women’s trophy.

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