A long drive of over 6 hours was definitely worth it when we reached Richards Bay, a beautiful coastal town hidden behind a mountain range. The race would be taking place on Sunday, which left me with a full day to hit up the beach, watch the 'scenery' on the beach and generaly have a holiday before the storm!

The 'storm' was a 20km loop x 5 laps, through and around Richards Bay. Taking in some small rises and long flat roads, the course suited a sprint finish and maybe even a breakaway - all stuff I had my mind on. With the race under way, I sat behind a few marked guys who I felt would make the moves; and within 20km, or 1 lap, that move came. I ended up in the breakaway, with a 20 second gap appearing within seconds and all the guys in the bunch finding it hard to organise a chase. We stayed away for about 3 minutes, before a solo bridge attempt came across, followed by the world and his dog!! A few more attempts went up the road, but none worth chasing... I slipped back to midfield in an area I thought would be safe from attacks, but I was wrong. Next time I looked, Christoph van Heerden / team MTN was 30 seconds up the road, and the bunch didn't react one bit! With Christoph was the SA Junior Champ, and another unknown rider, both who had been awake, unlike me...

The bunch worked to chase, in a pretty unorganised mess - and since I had no team responsibility, I just sat and waited for everyone else to bridge the gap. By lap 4, we spotted 2 of 3 breakaway riders, with only Van Heerden up the road, a whopping 1minute40sec. A lead he held onto all the way to the finish. The two riders he had for company squeezed ahead of the peleton, nabbing 2nd and 3rd spots overall. The bunch hit the final rise, where I attacked in an attempt to ride off the sprinters and better my chance of a podium. I split the bunch, and was once again brough down by an attempted solo bridge, with the world and his dog again joining the train! We hit the last speed bump before the final turn, where I again attacked, over the speed bump and into the turn. My pedal hit the ground almost bringing me down, but some old school MTB skills saved that one, bringing me over the line in 3rd spot in the sprint, and 5th overall. Definitely a successful weekend, hopefully followed up with a Criterium on Tuesday, depending on Coaches instructions!

 I'm heading to Belgium on the 5th of April, and obviously I can't wait!!!