When your entire career has revolved around being faster than your peers, the concept of slowing down is a hard one to fathom.
Nolan Hoffman, one of South Africa’s most feared sprinters, has no plans to slow down just yet. Photo: Henk Neuhoff
Although he believed the end of one of the most illustrious cycling careers in modern-day South Africa was nigh, 35-year-old Nolan Hoffman was not ready to pull the brake just yet.
“I still want to be competitive and win races,” said the Franschhoek star, who has been a full-time cyclist since 2004 when he arrived on the pro scene as a 19-year-old upstart ready to take on the world.
There have been very few riders who have understood their strengths and weaknesses quite like The Hoff does and because of this ability he has been able to turn bad days into good days and good ones into great ones.
And when you are able to extract the maximum from any situation, in cycling parlance, you end up winning races. And, if you look at Hoffman’s career, many of them.
When he lists his most precious victories it is interesting that they are shared – almost equally – between track and road. For instance, he has made a killing in the Paarl Boxing Day 25-miler and the Amashova – both of which he has won on seven occasions.
Add to that a trio of victories at the Cape Town Cycle Tour and a silver in the scratch race at the elite track world championships and you have more than just an average career.
It is interesting that his top performance, according to him, does not involve a gold medal.
“I would say my silver medal at track worlds is my biggest and proudest achievement,” he told In the Bunch during lockdown, perhaps giving us insight into the regard he had for the sport at the highest level.
Despite his palmares, which led to him being named as one of South Africa’s top five road riders of this millennium by cycling legend Johnny Koen, he insisted that his successes were not down to talent alone.
“I don’t see myself as a top rider,” said Hoffman, who still possesses one of the fiercest turns of speed in the pro peloton and one which delivered him to yet another stage victory at the Tour of Good Hope in March. “I just produce good results with a strong team and great teammates, most of whom I’m proud to have as friends.”
He credited each of the teams he rode for during his career for playing a role in moulding him into the rider he was today. However, he felt team Abantu was the best for his career.
“During my time with them I had the most victories for road events and on the track.”
Trying to identify a purple patch in a rosy career is no easy thing. In 2017, for example, he won the Herald, Emperors, Cycle4Cansa, Satellite and Amashova classics, along with two gold medals at the national track championships.
With winning a lot of races comes a lot of experience and knowhow and The Hoff was keen to impart all of that onto the next generation through a cycling academy, which he hoped would form part of his life after cycling.
“I cannot say whether I have made an impact in a fellow cyclist’s life, but I’ve been closely involved with many younger riders on our teams and have guided them in races,” he said with a modesty that almost certainly belies the true impact he has had on a generation of riders.
“For now, though, I’m just trying to figure out what the sport is going to look like after the coronavirus pandemic.”
