Hunter hungry for Argus win

2008-03-07 22:02

Cape Town - Robert Hunter of Team Barloworld will be hoping to repeat his 2007 victory when he lines up for the Cape Argus Pick n Pay Cycle Tour on Sunday morning

Hunter won South Africa's most prestigious race for the first time last year, having missed it because of his commitments in Europe.

But having signed for Barloworld, a team sponsored by a South African company, he and his red-clad team of top European and South African talent have added to the glamour.

Hunter, who is the only South African to have won a stage in the Tour de France, is the favourite to win the race more commonly known as the Argus and has a strong lead-out man in Daryl Impey, who has joined the team this year after some years with the MTN/Microsoft outfit.

Hunter is no slouch

Barloworld also have strong climbers in Chris Froome, the Kenyan, Portugal's Hugo Sabido, Austrian champion Christian Pfannberger and Colombian Tour de France stage winner Felix Cardenas.

Hunter will rely on them to protect him in the climbs up Chapman's Peak and Suikerbossie and thus set him up for the final sprint in Green Point. Having said that, Hunter is no slouch when the race heads upwards, as he showed on the fourth stage of the Giro del Capo on Friday.

He will not, of course, be given an easy ride by the other South Africans in the bunch, all of whom will have taken part in the five stage Giro del Capo this week.

The Giro finishes on Saturday, a change from recent years when the Cycle Tour was included as the final stage of South Africa's most prestigious race.

However, to qualify to ride in the elite invitation race in the Cycle Tour on Sunday, cyclists need to have ridden and completed in the Giro. Konica Minolta have already lost Herman Fouche, the winner of the Pick n Pay 94.7 Cycle Challenge, after he fell out of the Giro.

Lange is in his last season

Konica Minolta will now focus all their energies on getting Christoff van Heerden to the final straight and on the wheel of Hunter.

Among those Hunter will be keeping an eye on are MTN Energade's South African champion Malcolm Lange, a two-time winner of the race and with over 370 wins, the most successful local cyclist. Lange is in his last season as a professional before he retires, has shown good early form this season and has been strong in the Giro this week.

He has teammates Ian McLeod, David George, Nic White, Waylon Woolcock and Jay Thomson to call on.

Jeremy Maartens of Team Neotel believes that the man to watch is his teammate Nolan Hoffman.

Schoeman favourite

"We're obviously looking at Nolan for the Argus," said Maartens.

"He began to show unbelievable form towards the end of last year and in the recent Tour de Langkawi he was always up there in the bunch sprints against a lot of the Europeans.

"He'll definitely be one to watch."

Anriette Schoeman of Team Proline is the favourite for the women's race after her early-season run of victories, including the Pick n Pay The Star Fast One in January.

She will be pushed hard by the MTN women's team, who have Marissa van der Merwe in top shape after some good results in New Zealand. Young teammate Cherise Taylor, the Standard Bank Cyclist of the year, is another to watch, as is MTN's workhorse Cashandra Slingerland.

Lynette Burger of Supercycling-Cyclelab-Toyota will also feature in the sprint.

- SAPA