Carla Oberholzer will return to the Cycle4Cansa road race with a full squad as she goes all out to win a second consecutive title at Sun City on Sunday.
The national road champion, who won the 103km race in a time of 2:47:21 last year, will line up alongside Demacon teammates Lynette Burger, Kim le Court and Heidi Dalton.
“As a team our goal is to achieve a top result and we always race to win. In order to pull off another win we will have to rely on our good teamwork and communication as well as race as a unit,” said Oberholzer.
Team Demacon’s Carla Oberholzer is aiming for her second win in the Cycle4Cansa race that is taking place at Sun City, in the North West province, on Sunday. Photo: Mariola Biela
“We have several options going into the race and hopefully one of them will pan out well.”
Oberholzer, who recently clinched wins in the inaugural trapNET 360 and Jock Classic, took the women’s title for the first time last year as she won a sprint from a lead group of seven.
“It was a bit of a surprise. I actually dropped in the last kilometre or two after putting in a big attack, but then luckily got back to the bunch.
“They slowed things down and no one wanted to start the sprint and we left it quite late, so I just managed to stay ahead of the rest of the field.”
This will be one of the first races where they will compete as a complete team with Dalton back from Europe.
“I’m very excited about that. We’ll talk on the day and discuss our roles, but we’re normally quite flexible with regards to who is feeling good and who isn’t.
“The most important thing is having a plan but also communicating throughout and being willing to change anything if need be.”
Oberholzer saw this event as more of a training ride and said she would use it as part of her build-up towards the rest of the season.
“The route doesn’t particularly suit me or my riding style, although I have raced well on similar courses in the past, but I think it’s predominantly a sprinter’s route.”
She felt there were not any particular challenging parts and the biggest factor would probably be the wind.
“Luckily we have Heidi for that, so if a really blistering wind picks up I’ll try and stay as close to her as possible. Otherwise I think we should all be pretty good.”
Oberholzer said she was most looking forward to racing as a full team again. “Having Heidi back will add another layer to the depth and strength that we have already,” she said.
