Cherise Willeit will return to her favourite race, one she has won four times before, when she lines up to defend her title at the Cape Town Cycle Tour on Sunday.
Cherise Willeit will line up to defend her title at the Cape Town Cycle Tour on Sunday. Photo: Cycle Nation
“The Cycle Tour is definitely one of my biggest goals every year. But having said that, it goes hand in hand with the expectations for the event. I would love to see a very aggressive women’s race.”
The 30-year-old added that her form at the moment was not quite where she thought it would be and that it had been a very difficult year for her so far.
“But if I get to the finish line and I was dropped on one of the climbs because it was too hard then I’m still going to be over the moon.
“As long as women’s racing wins at the end of it and we can showcase what a strong women’s field we have in South Africa at the moment I will be really happy with that.”
Willeit felt there would be “huge competition” coming from the mountain bikers this year.
“Again Candice Lill will want to make the pace as aggressive and fast as possible. Then you also have Vera Adrian. I haven’t raced against her in a good while, but I think she’s on very good form.
“I’ve heard rumours of a comeback from An-Li Kachelhoffer and having raced with her before she’s not going to participate unless she thinks she has a chance to win.
“Kim le Court is also definitely up there. She’s had a very good season so far.
“We also have the youngsters, Tiffany Keep, Frances Janse van Rensburg and Hayley Preen, who has just won the Herald Cycle Tour. There are so many youngsters coming up and actually giving all of us a good run for our money. So I’m looking forward to it.”
She anticipates a fast and aggressive 76km race.
“It could be anyone’s game. That’s one thing about the Cycle Tour: anyone who is on the start line has a realistic chance of winning.”
Willeit will ride under the Customized Cycling banner and they have about five girls in their team. All the others are youngsters.
“They’re passionate about cycling. Some of them are doing their first one and looking at me as a mentor and I’d like to help them as much as I can.
“We also have a very good sprinter in Ashleigh Parsons and climber in Catherine Colyn. They will try and make racing as tough as possible. We will just take it kilometre by kilometre and see what happens.”
Willeit, who has competed in the event 21 times, said she had so many memories of it.
“It’s definitely my favourite race. I still remember going to the event as a nine-year-old with my whole family supporting me and my parents and grandparents riding.
“This is the first year that I won’t have my husband, kids or anyone with me. Luckily my uncle and aunt will still be there. It’s quite a different feeling after usually going up there with the whole family.
“I’m most looking forward to the vibe. I’ve come such a long way with the Cycle Tour and I love that for one day 35 000 people race the same race as we do and just the whole atmosphere leading up to the start and getting to the finish line is so special.
“This is a race I look forward to the whole year.”
