Pieter du Preez was the pick of the bunch of South African competitors at the para-cycling world championships in Maniago, Italy, writes MARK ETHERIDGE.
The veteran cyclist picked up two silvers in his H1 hand cycle category.
Those came in the time trial and road race.
Once again, with sponsorships hard to come by, it was tough going logistically for the South Africans who didn’t have the support enjoyed by many of the other teams.
‘Unlike world championships, we didn’t have a manager or director here. So my team is just called Team Supapiet – myself, my wife Ilse and my baby son Pietman,’ Du Preez told Team SA.
‘So getting ready for my first race, the time trial was quite a mission. Luckily, we had a guy called Pablo helping out and he spotted a slow puncture in one of the bike’s tyres. Thank goodness, but that caused quite a bit of stress.’
Quadraplegic Du Preez went on to describe his time trial ride. ‘It was a challenging course, with tough little corners and narrow streets, but still beautiful to ride. You had to be careful, though… there were two cobblestone sections where it would be easy to drop your chain but it was a fun course to ride.
‘I struggle with a deteriorating eye disease. Basically, I’m going blind, so I have to ride the course a few times, both in a car and on the bike. Those are all extra challenges to me but I got it right on the day.
‘I couldn’t have gone much faster and for my H1 category, it was one of the closest 1-2 finishes yet. A 15-second gap behind the Italian winner may sound a lot but in this category, it’s not. I was annoyed to only get silver but that’s how things go.’
For the road race, the mercury was over the 35° Celsius mark. ‘It was incredibly hot but the same for everyone. I couldn’t get ice out on the course to cool down but luckily some supporters from another country gave me water.
‘Me and the Italian dropped the field halfway through the first lap and it was his acceleration out of the corners that saw him building up a gap. He has tricep function which we don’t really have so I had to let him go and just made sure I kept my second place.
‘All in all, I’m happy with my performance and ties. I’ve still got a 100% strike rate of medals at world champs and bringing home medals for South Africa is so special.’
Looking further down the road, Du Preez is in a confident frame of mind. ‘I’m looking forward to my road to Tokyo 2020 and the challenge of getting ahead of this Italian.
‘Next up is the Iron Man 70.3 champs in SA. I’ve got a slot, there’s only one in the hand cycle division so I’m racing paraplegics who have three times my function but maybe I can get ahead of a few of them and show everyone that quads can do triathlons.
‘I’ll end my year with the Berlin Marathon [his seventh in a row] and then a marathon in Japan.’
Also seeing action was Cape Town-based Goldy Fuchs in T2 action.
‘My first race was the time trial. It was a very nice route with spectacular views leading through the countryside and small towns with narrow cobblestone streets.
‘There were a few uphill stretches throughout the course. I felt good and well prepared before the start of my races. My time trial started at 10:41am and I finished in ninth place. The road race took place the following day at 3pm. It was very hot and humid during the race and I managed to finish in eighth position.’
Just as Du Preez emphasised, taking on world championships without proper backup proved a very real challenge.
‘The whole tour was very difficult, because I didn’t have a support team with a manager, coach or mechanic during the week to assist me,’ Fuchs told Team SA.
‘I had mechanical issues with my tricycle the week before I left for Europe. One of the reinforcement pipes at the back of my tricycle broke and I had to find an engineer to fix it. Arriving in Maniago, I saw that my chain got damaged in the bike box and I had to look for a bike shop to replace it.
‘Then my saddle broke and I had to finish both races with a broken saddle, because I didn’t have money to replace it.
‘It was tough to compete against the best in the world under these circumstances. I’m in urgent need of a sponsor to enable me to upgrade my tricycle, which I’ve had since 2011, in order to be on par with my international competitors.
‘I also need high-performance coaching and training and will give my all during the next two years to be able to win medals again on international level.’
The only female member of the team was another Western Cape athlete, Toni Mould, who was riding her first T1 international competition outside of SA, having competed in the previous world champs and two World Cups that were hosted in SA the last three years.
A happy Mould, who suffers from severe cerebral palsy which affects all her muscle movements, co-ordination and speech, told Team SA: ‘In the time trial, I had the race of life. I got what I came here for and so much more! I came fourth, which is what I really wanted [being realistic in my goal setting]. The “more” part is that I actually had someone to race against and my, did we race!’
Mould is the only woman on a competitive tricycle in South Africa so she has very little in the way of competition. And when she has had competition, they were both too fast for her.
‘After starting two minutes ahead of me, I caught the Czech girl by the start of first hill, she caught up on the straights, the next hill I passed her and dropped her!
‘It’s the first time I have actually raced someone and not just dangled off the back. I couldn’t be happier.’
Stellenbosch-based Mould, 34, went on to finish fourth in her road race and told Team SA: ‘I was up with the third-place finisher for about 500-600m as we swapped positions several times but then she got away from me. I managed to drop the Czech girl soon after and then was on my own for the rest of race except for a few guys who lapped me.
‘I struggled with the heat, especially on the first lap. But there were angels along the route who kept throwing water at me to help cool me down. At the end of first lap, the Czech girl was pulled off because she was so far behind.
‘I wasn’t sure so I kept pushing. On the second lap, I had the ambulance behind me, again spraying me with water at times. This is the first time I wasn’t pulled off in an international road race and could finish the race even if it was very late after the others.
‘I surprised myself with how I have raced the last two days. Today was the furthest I have raced on one day and over the two days, I have raced 40.5km. I have enjoyed the racing so much and hope I get to come to Europe again.’
There was more reward for Mould on her return to South Africa when she was voted Sportswoman of the Year with a Disability at the Cape Winelands Sports Awards. She’s also nominated for Gsport Athlete of the Year with a Disability at the annual Gsport awards at the end of the month.
Photos: Main photo shows Pablo de Pedro in front (Fuchs’ manager), Fuchs, Mould, pushed by Anet Bosman and Coetzee (back centre in pink shirt) and others show Du Preez and son Pietman and Fuchs and Mould at the championships