Triathlete Emma Pallant had a deliberate plan in mind when she embarked on a long solo break during the Cape Town Cycle Tour women’s race yesterday.
Emma Pallant had a plan in mind when she went on a long solo break at the Cape Town Cycle Tour yesterday. Photo: Chris Hitchcock/CTCTT
The 30-year-old Briton broke away after just 2km and led for 30km of the 78km race. She later launched another long solo attack before getting caught in the last few kilometres.
“I love to ride hard so I was hoping that a few others might come with me. But when I found myself on my own I just embraced the push and enjoyed digging deep and working hard,” said Pallant, who won the Ironman 70.3 Vichy last year.
“I’ve had a hard training week so my legs definitely were screaming at some points. But I really enjoyed it and with the course, the crowd and the amazing scenery it was so much fun.”
Pallant, who finished 12th yesterday, added that she raced in the 947 Cycle Challenge and did not really enjoy riding in the bunch.
“I knew that unless someone bridged across – and I was hoping that Parys [Edwards] would, because then I knew we could work well together – that you can’t hold a bunch off going from that far out on your own.
“And I was trying to time when they caught me so that it wouldn’t be on parts where someone could straight away put in another attack that I wouldn’t be able to go with.
“So each time they caught me I tried to give my legs a breather so I could stay in contact with the front.
“On the top of the final climb when there were five of us away I was hopeful that we could keep it and I could finish in the top five, but I knew that I wouldn’t beat any of the girls in a sprint.”
She added that she was hoping a few of the women would get off the front and ride up to her to get an organised group going.
“I thought if I kept the pressure on long enough that it would be a big enough carrot for them to come and join, but each time the group came back up.
“But I was happy that we didn’t get caught by the men’s race and that was a big goal for me coming into the race – to keep the girl’s race separate and to get a good hard training session in and stay away from any crashes.”
Pallant felt if she raced it again she would have perhaps tried to talk to a few of the women and see if there were riders who it would not favour if it came down to a sprint to go with her in a break.
“I just think no matter how hilly or hard a course is, it’s very hard to race on your own against a pack. But I’m glad that we got a good training block out of it and we went around and did another loop after, so it was really a good day’s work.”
Being a triathlete, Pallant said it meant she was not as experienced or technically skilled as the others, but she also felt that triathlons helped your fitness and the running races meant she knew how to hurt from the start.
“I haven’t booked any more cycling races yet. I was meant to do Maluti with the PEaK team, but it clashes with the world duathlon trials unfortunately. But I would like to do some more. Next up for me is Super League triathlon at the end of the month in Saudi Arabia.”
This was her first time at the Cape Town Cycle Tour, an event her fiancee has done for the past 14 years and one that was a big family tradition for him and his family.
“The plan was to come here for a good hard training weekend. When Jaryd [Browne] told me about it – I was racing in Spain last year so missed the family trip – we found a 15km running race in Constantia on the Saturday and thought it could all fit nicely into our training block,” said Pallant, who moved to Johannesburg recently.
“I really would love to come back [to the race] if it fits in with the season next year and hopefully try to maybe get a team to work with so that I can help make for an exciting race to watch.”
She also took a few highlights from the race away with her.
“The support out there and the route – it was such a beautiful place to ride and I got to take in a lot more on the second loop.
“It was also fab to see so many people out there challenging themselves and overcoming personal battles.”
