Monday, 01 November 2010 17:05
Arran Brown out to silence critics
In the 14-year history of the Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge Malcolm Lange (Team Medscheme) is the only rider who has defended his title successfully.
In fact, Lange is the Cycle Challenge’s most successful rider to date having won “Everyone’s Race” no less than three times. He won in 2001 and then again in 2002 when he became the first rider to win in consecutive years. He was also the champion in 2008.
Last year’s champion, Lange’s teammate Arran Brown (Medscheme), makes no secret about the fact that he is going to give it a full-on bash on 21 November to become only the second rider to win the Cycle Challenge back-to-back.
And it’s not idle chat. Brown is very serious. “I really believe that I can win the Cycle Challenge again. My form has never been as good as it is now,” he said.
Judging by his domination in the local Classics over the past five weeks it won’t be a surprise if Brown indeed joins Lange’s exclusive one-man club of multiple Cycle Challenge winners.
Since September he has managed to win three of the important local one day Classics – the BESTmed Campus2Campus SuperClassic, MTN Amashova and BESTmed Jacaranda Satellite Classic.
However, at the moment, it’s not just about winning races for the 25 year-old. He is riding to silence his critics.
Last year Brown became the first rider to win the Cape Argus Pick n Pay Cycle Tour, the Amashova and the Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge in the same calendar year. He has defended his Amashova title successfully and the only reason he missed out on the Argus was because of a knee-injury that prevented him from riding.
One would have thought that, given his impressive results, local cycling pundits would be full of praise for him but that’s not the case. His critics contend that Brown can only win short, fast and flat races in bunch sprints and that he will never be a true role player in international cycling.
Brown is fully aware of his critics and it upsets him. “I certainly don’t think it is justified. For the record, I have been one of the biggest critics on the standard of our local road races.
“People should not forget that I have been advocating the importance of having longer and harder races locally for a long time. It would help us to be better prepared when we get the chance to race internationally.
“It is good to know what people think because it certainly serves as extra motivation. I don’t want to be remembered as the rider who could only win fun rides.
“For the last few weeks I have been going for five hour training rides and for the first time ever I am going for a massage three times a week.”
This year’s Cycle Challenge represents the last time that Brown and Lange will be working together to win a race. Brown is racing for MTN next year.
The main reason for the duo’s remarkable success is that they compliment each other’s sprinting ability. Brown can win in a long sprint and Malcolm has a shorter, yet more powerful turn of speed. What usually happens is that Lange stays on his wheel for the perfect lead-out in case things go wrong.
By winning the Jacaranda Satellite Classic Brown proved that he is developing into a complete cyclist. On the legendary Hekpoort Hill he out-rode everybody to win the King of the Mountain-prime and he still had the legs to win the race overall.
He also impressed with his climbing abilities on Ertjiesberg during the Campus2Campus race.
For further information on the Cycle Challenge and its subsidiary events log onto www.highveld.co.za
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