UCI Continental team ProTouch has announced its roster for 2021. Photo: Supplied
South African UCI Continental team ProTouch has announced its 10-man roster for the 2021 season.
ProTouch, the No 1-ranked UCI Continental team in Africa, will field an all-South African line-up in the year ahead.
New signings Andries Nigrini, Brad Gouveris and Tiano da Silva – who are all still under-23 – have joined the team. Da Silva has made the transition from the junior team to its senior ranks.
The rest of the squad comprises Kent Main, Gustav Basson, Calvin Beneke, Reynard Butler, Rohan du Plooy, Mitchell Eliot and Callum Ormiston.
Ormiston is the fourth U23 rider in a squad which boasts an exciting mix of youth and experience.
The team will be spearheaded by 24-year-old Main, who is currently the highest-ranked UCI rider in the squad (fourth in South Africa, ninth in Africa).
Despite the Covid-19 disrupted cycling calendar in 2020, Main took third place at the SA National Time-Trial Championships and finished third overall at the Tour du Rwanda.
Basson, also 24 years old, is a previous national junior road champion (2014) and won the 2018 Tour de Limpopo. He also triumphed in the second stage of the 2019 Tour of Good Hope.
He narrowly missed the podium in the elite road race at last year’s national champs when finishing fourth.
As the fastest sprinter in the team, Basson will carry the hopes of the team on the flat stages.
The Beneke name is synonymous with cycling in South Africa.
Calvin Beneke, 29, is now one of the veterans of the team. His all-round experience will be crucial to his younger teammates in the heat of battle.
At 31 years old, East London-born Butler may be the oldest member of the team, but he put his sprinting legs to good use in finishing on the podium at the 2018 Cape Town Cycle Tour and winning a stage of the 2019 Tour of China.
Du Plooy has seen not only his reputation as a road cyclist enhanced in recent years, but his UCI ranking (13th in SA, 19th in Africa) as well.
The 2019 season was a breakout one for Du Plooy with points classification wins in no fewer than three international events, namely the Tour of Rwanda, Tour of Indonesia and the Tour of Peninsular in Malaysia.
Johannesburg-born Mitch Eliot is a puncheur by trade and used his skills to winning effect at the 2018 Loskop Road Race for his most notable victory to date.
Gouveris is the reigning SA national criterium champion and at the same 2020 national champs, he finished third in the U23 road race, showcasing his all-round capabilities.
For the youngest foursome in the squad – Da Silva (19), Ormiston (20), Nigrini (21) and Gouveris (22) – a season of learning and growth as riders lies ahead.
All four have bright futures and will no doubt find the opportunity to showcase their skills at the highest level, starting with the SA National Road Championships from March 18 to 21 in Swellendam.
