Myles van Musschenbroek won the inaugural Joburg Classic road race on Saturday. Photo: Rory Button
Myles van Musschenbroek timed his attack from a small leading group to perfection to ride to victory in the inaugural Joburg Classic road race on Saturday.
The 28-year-old from Johannesburg finished the 113km event in 2:43:51 to triumph by 44 seconds. Andries Nigrini (Drake Events Cycling) and Joshua van Wyk (Team Enza) also rid themselves of the group to place second and third respectively.
After a podium in the Ride Joburg Criterium last weekend, Van Musschenbroek (PayFlex) knew his form was good and felt he could capitalise on the familiar route around the Cradle of Humankind.
“I was confident I could possibly take the win, knowing the route very well and where the pressure would be on,” he said. “I just had to keep a calm head, be patient and attack where it counted.”
He added he had done some “serious self-reflection” this year.
“I know most people can relate when I say this has been a very strange year and, in a way, I had to ‘find myself’ again,” he said.
“I literally didn’t ride my bike for four months during the hard lockdown period, which was definitely something I’m not used to.
“Towards the end of August, I linked up with a coach and set a goal to win the Ride Joburg race. With it getting cancelled, I continued working closely with my coach and training hard towards building good form for this period.”
His victory in the Joburg Classic vindicated the training he had put in.
“Because I don’t ride in a big team anymore I’m always outnumbered at the races and that makes it difficult to win,” said Van Musschenbroek.
“So, when I do pull off a win, it’s really special to me. After a tough year this result meant much more to me than just winning a race.
“It’s an indication that I’m finally in a good head space again and it reflects in other areas of my life as well.”
Van Musschenbroek said eight riders broke away from the peloton up the first hard climb about 15km in.
“We were all committed to rolling through in the breakaway, but the gap hovered between 40 seconds and one minute to the peloton for most of the race.
“With about 30km to go the elastic snapped and the gap grew to over three minutes.
“I felt this was an opportunity for me to get a good result, but with sprinters like Clint Hendriks, Joshua van Wyk, Travis Barrett and Tiano de Silva in the breakaway, I knew I had to put in a big attack and try to ride away if I wanted to win.
“Going back into the Cradle on the way back to the finish I put in an attack up Nedbank Hill and managed to get clear from the group with about 20km to go.
“I didn’t look back once I attacked and when the race commissaire mentioned I had a 50-second gap with 5km left I was very relieved.
“It was a case of keeping my head down and pushing on towards the finish line. It was a big effort and I was extremely happy to pull it off.
“To be the first winner of this particular event is special. It’s a fantastic route and I can only see the event growing from strength to strength.”
Sarah Hill (Galileo Risk) won the women’s race.
