The KZN Summer Series for Men takes place in the City of Pietermaritzburg from 25-26 March 2017, and with only two weeks to go, road cycling teams are making final accommodation, travel and training preparations ahead of the two-day event at the end of the month.
One of the 25 teams taking part in the Series are boys in red Team Alfa BodyWorks Pro Cycling. Team manager Gerald Francis will be bringing a Junior and Elite Team to Pietermaritzburg to get involved in the racing action.
The team has had a successful run this year so far, securing Western Cape Elite and Junior Champions, two podium positions at the Tour of Mpumalanga, an Eastern Province Herald U23 victory, a Points Jersey win at the Tour of Good Hope, a HotChillee Cape Rouleur 2017 victory, to name a few, with riders who are predominantly in the U23 category.
Chatting about their 2017 goals for the season, Francis explained the team had big ambitions. He said: ‘We’re hoping to win the Cape Town Cycle Tour on Sunday, podium at the Tour Durban and Amashova, and hopefully win the Western Province League event.’
World Cycling Centre Africa Director Jean Pierre van Zyl will also be bringing riders to take part. Van Zyl will have Continental teams come straight from the African Continental Track Championships (following the same schedule as the World Cycling Centre Africa Track cycling Training Camp, taking place in Durban from 10-27 March 2017).
‘Of course the women who went to the African Continental Track Championships won’t be joining us at the KZN Summer Series for Men, but most of the riders who took part in the African Continental Track Championships will be seeing what they can do out on the road,’ said Van Zyl.
Durban is Francis’ home town, and he’s looking forward to hosting the team and showing them around. ‘We intend doing a shark dive at uShaka Marine World, and I will make sure that the team is taken to Durban’s best curry houses,’ he added.
The KZN Summer Series for Men will comprise two separate races (with individual prize money) which make up a series, meaning that entrants will need to take part in both races in order to earn points towards overall prizes.