Cape Town cyclists Hanro Geldenhuys (Team RDX) and Hayley Preen (Team Honeycomb 226ers) will be out to defend their titles in the 39th edition of The Herald Cycle Tour at Pollok Beach in Gqeberha on Sunday.
The event, fuelled by Astron Energy and made possible by Telkom, features two race distances including the 106km Classic and the 55km Pursuit.
Both distances will also have tandem categories alongside the 2km and 500m junior race distances which take place on Saturday.
Geldenhuys came first in the men’s 106km Coastal Classic event in 2024 in a time of two hours 31 minutes and 54 seconds to win his first HCT title.
Meanwhile, Preen clinched her third crown, finishing the women’s race in 2:59:46.
She has set her sights on a fourth win on Sunday.
“Coming back to The Herald Cycle Tour is definitely a highlight for the team,” Geldenhuys said.
“Winning a race once is one thing but going somewhere and doing it again is a whole other level.
“I think myself and the team are excited to come and defend our title.
“A lot of people who are not racing always hope for a good day with sunshine and no wind, but a lot of the times, for us and the racing bunch, a good day with fair weather is not always the best.
“So, I’ll be hoping for a little bit of wind at least and rain is not always pleasant, but at least a bit of wind is welcomed, it just makes the race a bit harder.
“It helps the strongest legs get on the podium at the end of the day.”
Geldenhuys has prepared well for the race, however, last week his preparations were dealt a big blow which kept him away from training for a week.
“I was actually off sick from training the whole of last week but that is no excuse.
“That’s why we put in the work beforehand, so hopefully that won’t affect me as much.
“For myself, it would be awesome to defend the title but we are coming up as a team and not as an individual.
“If on the day I feel the legs aren’t there, I would be more than willing to put up a good fight for one of the other guys in the team.
“Winning the HCT for the second time for myself would be an amazing feat that would cement the fact that the first year wasn’t a fluke.”
Preen, 26, said she had a different plan to tackle this year’s race and hoped it would pull through on race day.
“I think every time I race The Herald, I think of different ways to tackle the race.
“Last year, I rode solo to the finish for about 90km so I’m not sure if that would happen again, but I think I’ll just see what happens on the day and take it from there.
“I am hoping it will be a strong field and I already know of a couple of strong riders and teams taking part.
“The more competitive the field, the better it is and the more challenging it is.
“Winning it for the fourth time would be special. The first time I won it, it was a long sprint, and then last year was a long solo breakaway.
“The Herald Cycle Tour was the first big race I won.”
For a wholesome family, fun-day experience, the race village will offer the Telkom and Astron Energy activation tent with fun pop-up activities and prize giveaways; beer yard, family tents and picnic zones, kids entertainment park, onstage live entertainment and food trucks.
The co-title sponsors for the event are Astron Energy; Platinum sponsor Telkom; Glenryck; Sarah Baartman District Municipality, Eastern Cape Motors Group; Standard Bank; Powerade; Town Lodge Hotel Group; Relay EMS, Talisman Hire & K&W; Trek and Cyclo Pro; Thule; Wayne Pheiffer; Coimbra; Goshawk and Omega Security.
The Herald
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