ENDURADE’s Marco Joubert recently had a successful race day at The Herald mountain bike race event. Taking a podium finish, he managed to ride his way into second place. The following article is taken from marcojoubert.com.

HUNTING FOR THAT TOP STEP

The first time I raced The Herald 80 km distance three or four years ago I had a good one to finish 3rd.  A year later it was up to 2nd. Last year I had to watch from the sideline because of a busted collar bone.  So this year it was supposed to be 1st?

Well, in real life we race. Talk, hope and stats don’t mean much. I can’t say I really hoped to get first. I think all of us race to win most of the time. So, yes definitely I was racing to win! Arno du Toit did the same and was just a little sharper and stronger at the finish line than I, so it was 2nd again for me.

THE RACE

It was the first time all three riders from IMBUKO GIANT were racing together. In hindsight, we should have had a better race plan but we are still a new team and finding our feet after starting the season with a bang. So next round we’ll be much sharper!

The first 20 km is open roads and very flat so nothing much can happen on this first section. We did push the pace here and there, but not flat out racing. Just after the 20km mark you hit some nice single track for about 5 to 8 km after which you get back onto the gravel road and hit the Zuurberg Pass.  This is a 10km climb with a relatively easy gradient.

Hitting the pass it was just Nicol, Arno, Jason and I at the front.  At the top, we made a U-turn into a really nice long single track all the way back to the bottom of the pass.  A great job by the trail builders and I really enjoyed pushing limits.

Arno and I got away from the rest and stayed together all the way from here. The road started to flatten out with only a few rises in the last 20 km.

There was no pressure from the back so the only way to settle the race was with a sprint. I am always ready to go for it at the line but Arno was too sharp and quick and I had to settle for 2nd.

Podium: 1st Arno du Toit, 2nd Marco Joubert, 3rd Nicol Carstens, 4th Max Sullivan, 5th Jason Meaton

It was a great result for the team with three of us on the 5-man podium with prize giving. Nicol got 3rd with Max and impressive 4th.

FORGED TO ELEVATE PERFORMANCE AND RECOVERY. #TRAINLIKEAPRO

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