South Africa’s Tiffany Keep, 18, feels the recent international experience she has gained will stand her in good stead at her maiden UCI Road World Championships in Yorkshire, United Kingdom, next week.
The U23 national time-trial and road champion recently rode in the seven-stage Tour Cycliste Féminin International de l’Ardèche in France.
Keep was lying 75th overall, but decided to pull out of the road tour after the third stage.
“The huge and intensive race was extremely taxing on my body, especially being a young rider at the event. The stages were long with an extreme amount of climbing.”
Even though she was unable to finish the tour she felt it was for the best seeing as it was just a week prior to world champs.
Tiffany Keep will compete in her maiden UCI Road World Championships in Yorkshire, United Kingdom, next week. Photo: Marc Fourie
“Thankfully I’ve had some days of rest afterwards to reset and refocus.
“Hopefully my body will be in better form now because of this decision, as disappointing as it was.”
Keep, who is part of the elite women’s squad for the world champs, said she felt excited ahead of a brand new experience.
“I’m sure it will be tough, but physically and mentally I’m ready. The international experience has allowed us to be able to dip our toes into the deep end of European racing. Or rather we’ve been thrown into the deep end and have had to learn to swim rather quickly.
“This has prepared us better for what’s to come and what’s expected at worlds.”
Keep, who won gold in the women’s cross-country race at the recent African Games, has qualified for worlds twice in the past two years, but this will be the first time she competes.
“It’s a big milestone for me, especially as it’s my first year in the elite category and I get to represent SA on the world stage, which means a lot and is a huge honour.”
Keep, who will compete in the individual time-trial on Tuesday the 24th and the road race on the 28th, said she had prepared as well as she could.
“I’ve done some sharp and intensive workouts. Racing in Europe has also prepared me nicely and given me an idea of what to expect in terms of aggressive racing.
“Strategy-wise I don’t have one set out as yet. I’ll just give it my best and soak up all the experience.
“I know it won’t be easy and I’ll be up against the very best in the world out of every age group. But it will be a challenge for me and I’m up for that.”
Keep added that she was not putting pressure on herself to achieve results as she felt being focused on that was not in line with her goal for the season, which was to gain experience for the years ahead.
“Worlds will help to set a mental benchmark for me to know where I need to be to compete against these riders, but more so, how I can improve myself.
“This is also the conclusion of our European racing for this year and I’m sure I’ll have a wealth of knowledge and experience to bring back to SA.”
