- Tour of the Freestate
The Tour of the Freestate was a new race on the calendar for 2011. The team had discussed the tour and came up with a few goals and a plan to achieve these goals.
The majority of the stages were fast and flowing with the exception of the tour deciding stage 3 that finished in Golden gate up a climb with gradients reaching up to 30%. Knowledge of this final climb was essential to a tour winning result. This stage decided the General Classification with Johann Rabie (Bonitas) in the leaders orange jersey, Darren Lill(Bonitas) in 2nd and Dennis van Niekerk(MTN/Qhubeka) in 3rd.
Stage 2 of the tour, a 120km route from Bethlehem/Fouriesburg/Clarens/Bethlehem was the most rewarding for me. After I slipped away from the bunch with Christiaan Kriek gaining a gap up to 3 minutes, I managed to pick up both King of the Mountain hot spots putting me in the lead of that competition and eventually winning it overall. My first Polka Dot jersey Win!
The Team work hard together and are very motivated to win and sacrifice for one another. Stage 4 on Pakisa Raceway proved this when we all sacrificed ourselves to bring the break back for a bunch sprint for Reinardt Janse van Rensburg.
Overall the Team had a successful Tour with Reinardt winning the Points Jersey, myself winning the Polka Dot Jersey, Arran Brown winning the final stage in Bloemfontein and Dennis van Niekerk getting 3rd overall.
Thank you all for the support!
BRADLEY POTGIETER 