Ryan Harris is hoping to take a step up to win the Emperors Palace Classic road race in Johannesburg tomorrow.
BCX’s Nolan Hoffman beat Harris into second place last year, but this time round he is targeting the top spot on the podium.
“The goal is definitely to go for the win,” Harris told In the Bunch. “After coming second last year it will be great to go one up this year.”
Ryan Harris, pictured here at the SA National Road Championships this year, is hoping to take a step up to win the Emperors Palace Classic road race in Johannesburg tomorrow. Photo: Into Cycling
Harris, who will ride for Team Office Guru U23, said his team’s strategy heading into the race would be to let others control the race.
“We still have quite a young team so we will probably leave it up to BCX and ProTouch to control the race. That way we will maybe get one or two guys in a break and have our cards to play if it comes down to a sprint.
“We could maybe stand a chance to strike late in the race.”
As it was a flat course he expected the field to stay together for most of the race, with the action occurring in the final section.
“The finish is quite tricky and decisive,” he said. “There are two sharp corners before a long drag leading to the finish.
“It will be important to be in a good position [on the corners]. There is a sharp left and then right, which is when the bunch often stretches out.
“It will be important to be near the front when hitting those corners. If you are not in the top 10 at least it will be difficult to get a good placing in the final sprint.
“There might be quite a bit of wind tomorrow which can play a role as well,” he added.
Harris broke his collarbone at the Berge en Dale a few weeks ago, but despite this he is feeling confident ahead of the Emperors tomorrow.
“This will be my first race coming back [from injury],” he said. “But I am feeling confident. I have done a few training rides and I feel quite good.
“My form is not where it could have been, but my sprints are looking good. Fortunately this type of race is pretty forgiving, so I can still get away with not having the best form.”
Harris said the race would give him a good indication of where he stood ahead of the rest of the season.
“I would like to build towards racing in Spain in June. I am excited though. There will be a lot of top guys there [at the Emperors] who I can measure myself against.
“BCX will probably be the biggest threat. They have a good lead-out train for Nolan [Hoffman] with Clint [Hendricks] as a back-up sprinter. They have a lot of fire-power.”
