A frustrating season for Konica Minolta South Africa

6 May 2009

It's been somewhat of a frustrating season thus far for the Konica Minolta South Africa Continental Cycling team. Despite having had very consistent season thus far, the team is still in search of an elusive National Classic victory.

On Sunday at the 2009 Tour Durban Cycle Classic Dennis Van Niekerk (Konica Minolta) took 6th place in a hotly contested bunch sprint. The race was won by Christoff Van Heerden an ex-Konica Minolta rider who successfully defended his 2008 title. In 2008 Christoff won the race in the colours of Konica Minolta.

Paul Van Zweel, a 1st year under 23 rider, from Konica Minolta finished a very credible 8th overall and in doing so, won the under 23 Classification.
MTN's Juan Van Heerden crashed badly with 100meters to go in the frantic bunch sprint when his bike clipped one of the crash barriers 100 meters from the finish, Juan was 3rd last year suffered a broken wrist in the crash.

With the majority of South Africa Classics in 2009 finishing in fast and aggressive bunch sprints, it came as no surprise to Konica Minoltas' team manager John Robertson when the crash occurred on the weekend. "With teams in South Africa's always relying on sprinters to win events we are going to see more crashes like this in the near future" said Robertson. "There is too much pressure on individual riders to win sprints and team tactics seem to focus on bringing the whole bunch to the line. It's inevitable that sooner or later riders are going to get hurt"

The Konica Minolta South Africa team are the only Continental Team in South Africa at the moment without a true sprinter in their ranks, which in all likely hood is the main reason the team is still searching for that elusive victory. "Dennis Van Niekerk the teams designated sprinter weighs in at a cool 58kgs! So I guess you can say we won't be coming out tops in some crazy dash for the line" said Robertson.

Despite the fact that the team's Archiles heal is big bunch sprints the team results have remained consistent from week to week. "Our objectives are not always to win every weekend, but rather about maintaining a strong presence in the sport, whilst shaping future Champions" said Robertson