Africa-Press – Namibia. Namibia’s top junior cyclists line up for the road race at the World Cycling Championships in Kigali, Rwanda tomorrow and on Saturday.
Marco Thiel and Namibia’s latest cycling sensation, Roger Suren, will compete in the junior men’s road race at 08h00 tomorrow morning where they will cover eight laps of a 15km course for a total of 120km and a total elevation of about 2 500m.
On Saturday, it will be Delsia Janse van Vuuren and Rosemarie Thiel’s turn to compete in the junior women’s race which consists of five laps or 75km and about 1 500m elevation over the same course.
Namibia’s u23 cyclist Monique du Plessis also made a late decision to compete in the women’s u23 road race over 120km this afternoon, despite still recovering from a heavy fall during training on Sunday which put her out of the women’s u23 individual time trial on Monday.
“Monique went for a training ride this morning and is still quite sore but she will start tomorrow and try her best,” her coach, Hans du Toit, said yesterday.
All eyes, though, will be on the junior cyclists, especially Suren, who became a household name in Namibia after his brilliant performance at the UCI MTB XCO Championships a fortnight ago where he finished second to become the first Namibian cyclist to win a medal at the UCI World Championships.
Since then he has been feted in Namibia, with Hollard Namibia also announcing a three-year partnership with Suren to support his journey towards the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
Du Toit, however, said there’s a big difference between MTB and road races and that Suren’s chances of winning another medal will be much more difficult.
“Roger will be competing in a much bigger race on Friday and he’s also got way less experience in this race. He definitely has the ability, and he has the drive to perform, but it will depend on what happens on the day, and how the cards will unfold during the road race,” he said.
“Sometimes you are unlucky and miss a break, or sometimes you have just made a break but get caught again, but Roger is fit, he’s strong, and he’s got the ability to do very well. However, all the athletes here are fit and strong and they are all looking for a good performance,” Du Toit added.
MAIN GOAL – YOUTH OLYMPICS
Du Toit said their main goal will be to try and qualify for the Youth Olympic Games which will be held in Africa for the first time in the Senegalese capital Dakar from 31 October to 13 November next year.
He, however, added that they are not yet sure about the qualifying criteria for the games.
“Unfortunately we don’t know exactly what the criteria for the Youth Olympics will be. The international bodies still don’t have a clear answer for us to say how the Youth Olympic qualification criteria will work, but we’re hoping that Africa will get a slightly bigger chunk of the cake and that two or three African countries can qualify, and that we can be counted among them. That is our main goal over here. Anything above that will be a huge plus for us as a country, so let’s hold thumbs and see where we can finish,” he said.
On Tuesday, Namibia’s junior cyclists competed in the individual time trial where they all gave solid performances, despite riding on road bikes and not specialised time trial bikes.
In the junior men’s time trial, Suren came 36th overall, 00:03:03 behind winner Michiel Mouris of The Netherlands, while Thiel came 62nd, 00:07:03 behind Mouris.
In the junior women’s time trial, Janse van Vuuren came 41st, 00:06:22 behind winner Megan Arens of The Netherlands, while Thiel came 45th, 00:07:50 behind.
Suren said he was elated with his performance.
“I’m super happy with my result – when I came to the finish line I was just 1.4 seconds behind the leader, but there were still many cyclists who had to come in. I eventually came 36th and I think considering that I was on a road bike I think it was an awesome result,” he said.
The Thiel siblings, Marco and Rosemarie, meanwhile, said the time trial was a great experience, with thousands of people lining the streets and supporting the cyclists.
“The fans next to the road were quite electric, they just shout words of encouragement, especially on the steep sections. There were just tons of fans on the side of the road waving flags and shouting and encouraging every nation which was quite cool,” he said.
Rosemarie added that the start of the time trial in the BK Arena was also a thrilling experience.
“When I walked in it was crazy, it was something I hadn’t experienced before. You could feel the excitment – of course everyone was nervous, but we could all feel it in the air, and when the countdown started it got very loud. My race was OK, but I’m more focused on the road race on Saturday,” she said.
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