Gregory de Vink began preparations for his season in Europe on a high note when he won the Western Cape Road Champs and finished second in the Time-Trial Champs in De Rust at the weekend.
The 20-year-old, who rides locally for Mad Mac p/b häzz, is set to link up with the French-based La Pomme Marseille under-23 outfit after the SA National Road Champs early next month.
“It was definitely a good start to the season for me,” De Vink told In the Bunch today.
“I’ve had a good base build-up for this season. I just need to sharpen up on some efforts and do some proper intensity before nationals.
“I really want to target the [U23] national jersey before I go to Europe. I’ve got quite a long season coming up in Europe. I’m happy with how my training has gone so far.”
Gregory de Vink (pictured) began preparations for his season in Europe on a high note when he won the Western Cape Road Champs and finished second in the Time-Trial Champs at the weekend. Photo: Rob Ward
De Vink, from Somerset West, said the sprint training he put in during the off season had counted in his favour during the 147km WC road race.
“I worked on my sprints a lot through December and that’s one thing I lacked last year.
“I definitely showed improvement there and I was happy to leave the race to a sprint finish.”
He described the route as somewhat undulating and fast.
“We were on the pedals the whole way and there were no downhill sections where you can ease up.
“The bunch was fairly small, which led to a harder race. There was more attacking and less space to hide.”
Among prominent riders who participated were Louis Visser, Gustav Basson, Byron Munton, Rainhardt Marais and Devin Shortt.
De Vink said he was fortunate to cross over to the breakaway group early on in the race.
“All the main riders were in there. We just rolled together until [we had] about 10km to go, which is when there was a bit of cat and mouse.”
Three riders – De Vink, Visser and Ivan Venter – then broke away and took it to the line in a sprint finish, which the former subsequently won.
“The road race went perfectly according to plan,” De Vink said.
The time-trial route was “tricky to read”, but he said he had aimed just to maintain consistent power throughout.
He lost out to Munton by just over a minute in the end. “I was happy with the outcome and well done to Byron. He had a very good time-trial.”
Before the national champs next month, De Vink will first take part in the Stellenbosch Cycle Tour on January 20.
