Dusty Day, who was part of the Barzani team that won the Double90 last year, says they have merged with TEG Procycling in a bid to defend their title in Clarens, Free State, tomorrow.
The team consists of Jason and Thys Oosthuizen, Nico Thiart, Alex Pavlov, Louis Visser, Moses Venceslau, Travis Barrett, Quentin Gordon, Flavio Venceslau, Damion Gomez and Brandon Downes.
“To win the race is the goal and this year we’ve combined two teams,” said Day, who added that they would be known as TEG/Barzani Pro Cycling.
Dusty Day was part of the Barzani team that won the Double90 last year. They have now merged with TEG Procycling in a bid to defend their title in Clarens, Free State, tomorrow. Photo: Featherly3photography
“Only four of the previous year’s riders are in this team. Let’s hope we can all cooperate as a unit and take the win.
“Each rider knows what he has to do and they all have experience to ride in this format,” he said, referring to the 180km team time trial.
Day added that last year started off badly as they lost two strong riders early.
“Tyler [Day] with a flat and JC [Nel] with a bad day on the bike [were the setbacks], so we nursed the 10 remaining guys to the Golden Gate and rode till we were six remaining, who took it home for us.
“The strategy now stays the same – smooth and steady rolling.”
He felt the first 140km suited the heavier riders better and the last 40km the lighter ones, which made it interesting as to how to use which rider where.
“I’m more the first 140km power type of rider, pulling longer on the front and keeping the speed nice and high.
“If I don’t do too much and we have all 12 riders before we enter Golden Gate then I have a good chance of staying in the top six.
“When we lost two strong riders early last year I felt I needed to make up some ground on their behalf and put in much more effort. I dropped off once we hit the big hills.”
Day said this race was always critical in the calendar and any winner would say it was important to try to defend a title.
“We respect the race as anyone should once they win it.”
