A satisfied Matthys Beukes said his victory in the Trailseeker race, which took place in Wellington today, was an important one for him.
“I’ve been through quite a bad patch and struggled with flu, which really set me back,” said the PYGA Euro Steel rider after winning the first event of the Western Cape series.
He crossed the line in a time of 2:53:03, beating Philip Buys and Nicol Carstens to the line.
PYGA Euro Steel’s Matthys Beukes was happy to win the first Trailseeker event of the Western Cape series in Wellington today. Photo: Hayden Brown
Beukes said he had put in some hard work over the past few weeks in a bid to regain his former good form.
“Today was my first test of that. It was important to see where my form is and how things are looking for me.”
Beukes, who knew the route well from competing in last year’s event, said the 70km marathon race started off quite fast.
“Soon after the start it was myself, Philip and Nicol who were alone out at the front. About halfway through, which I thought was quite early, Philip put in a big effort and created a gap on us.
“I wouldn’t say I just sat back, I definitely had to dig deep at times to stay on Nicol’s wheel, but he did most of the work in order to try and stay in touch with Philip.”
Beukes said his legs were not feeling too good, so he knew he had to save his energy for one big one effort on the final climb.
“Right at the top of the last climb, with about 15km to go, I put in my move and had a gap on Nicol and then caught and passed Philip. From there I just rode smoothly down to the finish.”
He added that he was happy to have taken the win as there were times when he did not feel too good.
“I just hung in there and put in the final big effort. I’m happy with how it went and am definitely looking forward to doing some more work and hopefully getting into even better shape to be able to race how I want to.”
