Byron Munton played a key role in making the racing and setting the pace among the select breakaway group in yesterday’s 109km Cape Town Cycle Tour, which was won by New Zealander Sam Gaze.
As a result Munton was singled out by the “voice of cycling” Phil Liggett, who said if there had been an award for Rider of the Day it would have gone to the 20-year-old in recognition of the impact he made.
Alfa Bodyworks-Giant’s Byron Munton (left) leading the way at the head of the day’s decisive break during the Cape Town Cycle Tour yesterday. Photo: Chris Hitchcock
The Alfa Bodyworks-Giant rider formed part of the day’s 10-man break. He had a decisive influence within the group, despite not having the same strengths as many of the others.
“As a 60kg rider there was no way I would have taken those other guys on in the final sprint,” Munton told In the Bunch today.
“I knew [from the outset] that the break would probably form going over Smitswinkel [approximately halfway in] with the cross-tailwind.
“I just wanted to make sure I was right at the front there. Considering the competition I thought it was obvious that it was going to split there.”
Munton was the only rider from his team in the group, with his teammate HB Kruger having missed the opportunity to bridge across at Smitswinkel.
ProTouch had three riders in the group, in the form of Jayde Julius, Clint Hendricks and Calvin Beneke, while Dimension Data had two, Stefan de Bod and Nicholas Dlamini.
Munton said while the riders within the break worked well together they all banked on a sprint finish, which was against his plans.
“Unfortunately everyone else in the break wanted it to come down to a sprint,” Munton said.
“ProTouch had quite a kick on them with Clint, Jayde and Calvin and I’m sure Sam probably would have also wanted to sprint it out.
“It was never going to be easy to get away from them.”
From about the 70km mark, at Ocean View, he, Nolan Hoffman and Dan Craven were “caught out”, Munton recalled, which forced him to play his cards right in the latter parts of the race.
“We had to chase extremely hard to get back and we managed to do that just before Chapman’s Peak. That wasn’t ideal because we burnt a lot of matches.
“I was trying to conserve as much as I could going over Chapman’s Peak because I was already on my limit.
“I was still suffering a bit on Suikerbossie, but once I recovered a bit I tried to attack in Clifton. It was a bit of a technical section, but it was never going to stay away.”
Munton continued to stay with the race favourites for the remainder of the race, having led on several occasions, but he just never managed to create a gap.
He said Gaze’s well-timed attack came after he got rid of last year’s champ, Hoffman, and by not allowing himself to get neutralised by the other teams.
“ProTouch had three guys who could sprint, so he had to make sure he wasn’t caught out by one of them. He [also] had to make sure none of the other teams countered him before the line.
“I tried to go, but as soon as the other guys kicked it I was left behind,” he said, eventually finishing eighth in the final sprint.
The Cape Town local, who won the Stellenbosch Cycle Tour in January, gave full credit to his team for making sure they had riders in many of the right moves, specifically from the back.
After enjoying some fine form this season, Munton will leave later this month for a six-month racing stint in Spain.
