Shameeg Salie relished his victory in the 170km One Tonner in Stellenbosch yesterday. It was a race that rekindled some fond memories.
Salie, who rides for Randwater-Transnet, said he first won this event in 2014 when he was only 19 years old, giving his career an early boost.
“All of the years since then I’ve been trying but I’ve always been a marked man,” Salie told In the Bunch today.
“To take it again meant a lot for personal reasons because it opened many doors for me back then and hopefully it does the same now.”
Shameeg Salie relished his victory in the 170km One Tonner in Stellenbosch yesterday. Photo: Facebook/@Velokhaya
Salie went on to ride for the Dimension Data Continental team and Alfa Bodyworks in the following years, before joining Randwater-Transnet at the start of this season.
He said in the race yesterday two riders broke away up Helshoogte Pass and stayed ahead for a third of the route.
“I told my teammates that if we were to catch up to the break they would have to take some pressure off me.
“Eventually after about 60km we managed to catch them and then we basically all stuck together.”
The 23-year-old said he then planned to play his cards in the final 30km of the race.
“Everybody else was suffering due to the heat. It was like over 40 degrees [Celsius]. But I had conditioned myself well after I did the [Rainmaker] Rollercoaster stage race the previous week.
“That was seven days in excessive heat and my body got used to those temperatures. I think I was more prepared than the rest of the field,” he said, adding that it was in the last several kilometres that he got ahead.
He admitted, however, that the competition “wasn’t that tough” due to many riders opting rather to take part in the 109km race because of the prize money up for grabs.
Salie said the 170km route was relatively flat, with only two major climbs – Helshoogte and Riebeek-Kasteel.
“The route wasn’t too bad. It was just super hot in the last hour with a lot of crosswinds,” he added.
He will now focus on mountain-biking, teaming up with Mthetheleli Boya at the Wines2Whales Shiraz this weekend.
The Cape Town local will then tackle the Double Century, where he will represent Alfa Bodyworks. He said the team “will be looking to win”.
