Travis Barrett timed his sprint to perfection to take his maiden Cape Town Cycle Tour title near Sea Point, Cape Town, today.
“We knew we had to make it hard up Chapman’s Peak and Suikerbossie to get rid of the fast guys,” said Barrett.
“There were still some really fast sprinters here at the end though, so I knew if I wanted to win I had to race really smart.”
He added that his teammates started leading it out with about 1.5km to go and they just dropped him off in the perfect place to pull it off.
“It was probably the longest 200m of my life. I opened up my sprint just at the right time. I started fading a little bit just towards the end, I could feel Clint coming along on my right-hand side, but the finish was just close enough to hold it off.
“I still can’t believe it. It’s something I think every rider dreams of. A few months ago I set myself a goal of wanting to win a big Classic in South Africa and I thought if I could do it at the Cape Town Cycle Tour then that would be great.”
The 20-year-old OfficeGuru rider beat Team Enza’s Clint Hendricks into second, with ProTouch’s Jayde Julius completing the podium.
“He got me literally by a tyre width, but that’s bike racing. Travis has been riding really well recently so he deserves this,” said Hendricks.
After a series of attacks through the Simon’s Town area, a group of four – consisting of Jacques Lloyd, Drikus Coetzee (Namibia), Alex Pavlov and Barney Purbrook – assembled in the front.
They worked together well over the Smitswinkel climb and thereafter to build a lead of just under a minute at Misty Cliffs. However, their day at the front turned out to be short-lived as their advantage was nullified by the chase from behind with Little Chappies on the horizon.
The bunch hit Chapman’s Peak together with Bizaye Redae, Barrett and Jaco Venter – who won the Tour of Good Hope in the week – going clear. However, most of the favourites reassembled on the way down into Hout Bay.
It was status quo through Camps Bay as the various teams started jockeying to get their sprinters in the best possible position for a sprint finish.
Dylan Girdlestone led the sprint out for Team OfficeGuru with his team-mate Barrett finishing it off.
