MARK ETHERIDGE: Young riders needed as top cyclists come to end of the road

Not one but two nations suffered a double sporting loss last weekend.

Not only did SA cycling lose two top-class international cyclists in the shape of Jo van de Winkel and Carla Oberholzer, but the elite Sandton City Cycle Nation team had to say goodbye to these two stalwarts.

The two, 42 and 37 years of age, respectively, have between them won pretty much every national and local cycling honour that the rainbow nation has to offer over the past 10 years and longer.

Both have raced on the international circuit, been to an Olympic Games and either won or been on the podium of SA road championships on many an occasion.

Both have husbands, both are mothers, both have full-time jobs, and yet were still able to rank among the very best SA cyclists produced.

Now based in Hillcrest, KwaZulu-Natal, with husband Tijl, Van de Winkel is a solutions architect at First National Bank and said this was actually her third “and final” retirement from cycling.

“My first retirement was after five years of racing and then making the Olympics in London after racing my heart out for two years. In hindsight I maybe pushed myself too hard in 2012. I started a family in 2013, I think it was a three-year break, after my two kids, before I started riding again. I missed the joy and freedom of cycling, the comradeship of sport, feeling fit and healthy, pushing myself and that feeling of life stress being put back into perspective after a good hard session.”

She started with Cycle Nation in about 2018 with big dreams of making the 2020 Olympics — 2019 was a big year for her both on home and foreign soil.

The Covid-19 pandemic threw a huge spanner in the works and she ended up moving from Joburg to her KwaZulu-Natal roots.

Then came the second retirement. “All my family are here in KwaZulu-Natal so it’s easy to have parents here and cousins and we also have a farm in the Drakensberg so I got myself a mountain bike and gravel bike and took time off to go off-road with my boys.”

Then, Cycle Nation sports director Lincoln King again persuaded her to hit the road, “so I accepted that offer and chose the bigger races, especially the KwaZulu-Natal ones and the bigger ones in Joburg but stopped racing internationally.

“My main goal was to help the development of youngsters like Maddie le Roux and Lisa Bone, while enjoying riding my bike and of course to win races for the team. 

“I’ll still ride but my kids are at an age where they also want to ride so I really want to be there for them and help them out.”

Her most memorable race? “I’ll never forget the London Olympics ... just the atmosphere and the amazing experience of competing against the best, huge crowds cheering you — phenomenal. I also worked really, really hard to achieve that dream. Both Carla and I had set that Olympic dream [hers was in 2020] and almost giving your whole life to achieve that dream for a while is very special, the more you put into something the higher the achievement.”

Asked for her thoughts on the state of SA cycling she pauses, before saying she has mixed feelings.

“In terms of road cycling now ... we’re struggling to find young up-and-coming riders especially with Carla and myself leaving — we’re looking for new riders, it’s especially a struggle in Joburg and KwaZulu-Natal due to road safety and [with] less financial support there are very few new women on the road and we’re having to look more at the mountain-biking sector where there are up and coming riders.

“I do feel that with Carla and I stepping out the women’s peloton is still made up with mainly ‘older’ women and it’s something that I’d like to help with — encouraging new riders!”

Moving on to Carla from Clarens in the Free State, and she’s just as busy as Van de Winkel with her and hubby Stefan having no less than four ongoing business concerns, though being pregnant with their first child couldn’t keep her away from a supporting/tactical role within the Cycle Nation team.

“The main reason for me stepping away though is that I want to spend more time with my family and we want to do family sport as opposed to performance sports. Not much will change on a day-to-day basis but I will have time to breathe a bit as well. 

“My career highlight would probably be the 2021 Continental Championships in Cairo, Egypt where I won four gold medals in the road race, individual time trial (TT), team TT and mixed relay TT. Other highlights include my very first SA road race title back in 2018 and also my last one this year when my daughter, Ariane, was not even one year old.”

Surprisingly, instead of the Tokyo Olympics being an obvious high point of her cycling life, it was the polar opposite.

“Not because of how the race went, I am very proud of my effort on the day, but because of how the event transpired from a team perspective and the fact that I didn’t receive any support from the team car on the day and was treated very poorly after the race.”

Asked to single out a particular favourite race in as stellar a career as hers, she admitted to it being “super hard”.

Phenomenal team work

“It would probably have to be that first SA road title. I came back from Europe the previous year thinking I was almost done with cycling. Then some phenomenal team work set me up to win the road race and that resulted in me racing for many more years. I remember going in with so much self doubt, as I do with a lot of races, but the faith my team and our management team had in me was just huge and I rode away by myself with more than 30km to go. It was pretty special.”

Her road forward will be more business-orientated. “I’ll carry on working to build our four businesses — Artists Cafe Restaurant, Die Spens Clarens (food and gift store), SCO-Tech (IT and solar company) and my own sports medicine practice, Carla Oberholzer Physiotherapy.”

Somewhat perturbing an honest sentiment is that she tends to agree with Van de Winkel’s thoughts on road cycling.

“Unfortunately, I feel that road cycling in SA is no better than when I started. In fact, numbers have declined drastically and the depth of specifically women’s cycling is much less. We have a few riders racing in Europe so the top end isn’t bad, but then there is a very steep drop-off with very few young riders coming up the ranks.

“I think safety and finances are the two main contributing factors. Road cycling is not a particularly safe sport for a young girl to start and it can be very costly. So barrier to entry is high.

“Plus let’s face it, traditional team sports are more appealing, especially at school level. In terms of governing the sport, there has also been very little change from governing bodies and federations, and we still sit with similar problems that we did 20 years ago.”

There’s a phrase that says “behind every successful man is a woman”. In champions Van de Winkel and Oberholzer that expression can easily be reversed.

Said Tijl van de Winkel: “What sticks out is the incredible amount of work, prep and dedication that goes into racing at their level... Even if a whole team in terms of family, coach and manager is behind them it needs an incredible strong person [Jo] to do it ... no matter what, once Jo has a goal she’ll find a way to make it happen.

“Luckily in her case there are enough highs in terms of race results and supporting team to keep on going ... this all makes it easy for us to deal with a dedicated, stubborn wife, but knowing she will succeed. We’ve always been behind her.”

As for Stefan Oberholzer, he said he couldn’t be prouder of his wife. “Carla’s an example of dedication and resilience, one of the hardest working individuals I’ve ever known. Her ability to juggle cycling (from 4am), three businesses and responsibilities as a devoted mother is breathtaking.

“Carla’s tireless efforts and unyielding passion for excellence serve as an inspiration to all those around her, proving that with determination and hard work, anything is possible.”