08 Aug 2024

The Botswana Cycling Association will on Sunday host the national Individual Time Trials (ITT) in Rasesa. 

The ITT are a popular type of road bike race in the professional and amateur cycling space where cyclists run against the clock to measure their progress and improvement. 

“As the BCA we have retained ITTs, and the event gives our riders the opportunity to be selected for the national team in the ITT discipline, particularly our elite, junior and youth riders, who are supported by the Confederation of Africa Cycling (CAC) and the Union Cycliste International (UCI) to compete regionally and internationally,” BCA president Kagiso Potongwane said in an interview. 

Potongwane said priority for such competing opportunities regionally and internationally were given to national champions. 

During the ITT, riders start at intervals, which were usually one minute and half or more, and take the course alone, without taking support from other competitors or vehicles. 

“If one competitor is caught by another, the UCI regulations require the overtaken rider to fall back behind the other and not draft them,” Potongwane explained, adding that the cyclist with the fastest time wins the race. 

Preparing for the trials, Tsela Riders cycling club chairperson, Charles Vaughan, said they have re-purposed their weekly training to focus on the ITT. 

“Our riders are in good shape and we are confident of a positive outcome with the coming ITT championships,” Vaughan said. 

For Team Swift, David Lebalelo said their youth, junior and elite riders would field the ITTs. 

He said the aim was to do a split pacing centred on starting out easier and going faster in the second half of the race. 

“This strategy helps sustain power,” Lebalelo said. Registration for the ITTs is P200 for junior, under 23, elite, masters, vets and grand masters categories and P100 for youth, and it is done online at www.timing.lifecycle.co.bw. 

The National ITTs are supported by the MVA Fund, Kwa Nokeng Oil, ER24/7, the Botswana National Sport Commission, MMG and Khoemacau mine. ENDS