Barend Burger, who teamed up with Max Knox, praised the strategy that enabled them to win the four-stage Panorama Tour which finished at Casterbridge in White River today.
The Demacon pair won the overall title without winning a single stage, but Burger said that was the intention.
“It is difficult to just win a stage. The goal from the start was to win the overall title,” Burger told In the Bunch today.
“Both riders need to be exceptionally strong to ride and get away, so trying to spend too many pennies on a single stage win was not the goal.
“It was more about not losing too much time behind any of the other teams, but also I tried not to stress too much about it.”
Demacon’s Barend Burger (left), who teamed up with Max Knox, praised the strategy that enabled them to win the four-stage Panorama Tour. Photo: HH Photography & Design
Burger said they did not want to have to defend yellow after the first stage, otherwise their chances of winning would have been in the balance.
“We [he and Knox] probably would have lost the tour if we were forced to defend yellow after day one,” he said.
“We just wanted to be consistent every day by finishing with the top teams and gaining time over the right ones.”
The competition was tough, Burger added. “The general level between the top 10 teams was very high.
“I did not want to head into the time-trial [final stage] with a gamble on time.
“I have lost the tour twice before on the time-trial, but not once this year did I feel I was in trouble. It was all about staying with your teammate, and we did that well.”
Although having known Knox since his junior days, it was the first time Burger had raced with Knox.
“Our sponsor from Demacon told me I had to race with him [Knox], so I did not even have a choice.
“Max is a quiet but really nice guy. He is not big-headed like many other pros, so that was very nice for me.”
It did not all run smoothly for the pair though. “Max had some trouble with his back wheel on stage two,” said Burger.
“I did not even know he had stopped until I went to the back of the bunch. I waited for him and we had to pace it back again. I thought it was going to be race over from there.
“Proud Beginners Cycling Club had two teams [taking part] and they were both relatively strong, so we had to watch them closely throughout.”
