Ryan Gibbons says it was the professional way his team executed their time-trial strategy that saw them secure another gold medal for South Africa at the African Games in Bel Slimane, Morocco, at the weekend.
It was “quite an achievement” and he was proud of the team, which also included Jayde Julius, Jason Oosthuizen and Kent Main. They completed the 56km race in 1:07:56.
The Eritrean team finished just under two minutes back, with Rwanda trailing by a further 30 seconds.
“It was also the first time Eritrea has been beaten in an African team time-trial in 10 years,” said Gibbons.
This showed their form was good and the team was strong and worked well together, which boded well for the road race on Thursday.
The South African men’s team, who consisted of (from left to right) Jayde Julius, Kent Main, Jason Oosthuizen and Ryan Gibbons, won the team time-trial at the African Games in Morocco on Saturday. Photo: Supplied
“I have a little more experience in team time-trials than the other guys, so I had a pacing-strategy brief and tried to dictate the pace to what I thought would be ideal.
“The guys were smooth and consistent which is crucial in a team time-trial. I’m very happy with how it unfolded.”
He added that everything went “pretty much” according to plan. They started with four riders and had to finish with three, so the goal was to keep all four competitive for as long as possible.
“We only lost our fourth rider in the last 15km, which was beneficial to us as many other teams were down to three quite early.”
Gibbons said an obstacle they faced was that it was very hot and their start was delayed by two hours.
“This made the preparation harder as we had eaten as if we were starting at the original time. So this was something we had to adapt to.
“We had great support from the Team SA staff, which ensured we were well equipped to handle the conditions.”
The 25-year-old Dimension Data rider saw the result as a confidence-booster ahead of today’s individual time-trial and Thursday’s road race.
“It definitely shows the legs are pretty good and that we’re stronger than the other nations.
“We’ll be going in as the favourites now as it was a bit of a shock for Eritrea to have been beaten.”
Gibbons said his experience of the Games thus far was that it was a bit of a wakeup call coming from the world of professional cycling.
“The Games are doing their best to make things as comfortable as possible but simple things like communicating start times and unforeseen transfer delays, to and from the start, are common problems.
“Otherwise I believe it’s been a successful Games thus far for Team SA and I hope it continues.
“A big thank-you must go out to the SA administration, management and support teams here who are really doing their utmost to ensure the athletes are as comfortable and prepared as possible.”
The national women’s team, who consisted of Tiffany Keep, Maroesjka Matthee, Carla Oberholzer and Zanri Rossouw, also won gold in the time-trial on the same day.
