Alex Worsdale (OfficeGuru) achieved a unique triple over the weekend when he finished 4th in the 947RideJoburg-race.
Gustav Basson (ProTouch) won the race with his teammate, Kent Main, second. Myles van Musschenbroek raced to a third-place finish in the hour-plus one lap (1.4km) criterium race.
It was the Tuks rider's third consecutive top-ten finish. Last year he was second, and in 2018 he finished 7th. Sunday's race is, however, the one he will remember for a time to come. It had been a long time since he had to race as hard.
Criterium races are known to be fast and furious with plenty of attacks and breakaway attempts. The 947RideJoburg-ride was no exception. Worsdale reckons they averaged 40km/h from start to finish.
To his surprise, the race split up quite early on. It suited him as he likes to fight his battles from a small group riding at the front. But cycling is a team sport. Basson and Main had the numbers to put everyone else in "checkmate".
"After about 40 minutes of racing. Kent launched an attack. I had to make an immediate decision. Do I give chase or do I wait? I accelerated that played perfectly into the ProTouch team's plans. Gustav bided his time. Then he attacked. I had not enough energy left to chase him down also. I got dropped. For the last 15 minutes, I was racing on my own," is how Worsdale remembers it.
The easy option would have been to sit up and accept that he had lost, but it is not the kinda rider he is.
"I kept racing as hard as I could as I did know what was happening up front. There is always a chance that another rider might be ridden off. If it happened, I could have passed him and finished on the podium. Fourth is not the result I wanted, but I will take it, especially since I did not do any specific training to race a criterium."
The Tuks student hopes to be finished with his BSc Human Physiology degree in a week or two from now. The plan is then to race full time. He has already pencilled in next year's South African Road Championships and the Rapport Tour as the races in which he wants to excel. If everything goes according to plan, he also hopes to race internationally.
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