The top teams in SA will fight it out in the 2003 Tour de Eden, and perhaps one of the most interesting of these is SA’s newest pro squad, the women’s Proline/Super CD team headed up by the country’s top woman, Anriette Schoeman.
Although the full composition of the team has yet to be announced, Anriette has confirmed that it will include Pretoria’s Elsa Karsten, the ”find” of the 2003 women’s season, tough Engela Conradie, and Thea Barkhuizen.
”We will finalise the fifth lady as soon as possible, but I’m very excited about the team, they’re not only all talented ladies but also very nice people, so the whole thing will be a pleasure,” said Anriette.
”I’m expecting great things and I believe we could spring a bit of a surprise at the Tour de Eden,” she continued.
She explained that, as a result of the delay in her training caused by her recovery from a big crash in a French race, ”I need to get in as many races as possible to get myself ready for the worlds, so the Tour de Eden has come just in time for me.”
The first men’s Elite team to confirm their entry for the Tour de Eden is HSBC and their line-up is even more exciting.
It includes Jeremy Maartens, who held the yellow jersey in the Tour de Eden last year right up to the penultimate stage when he had to relinquish it to Morne Bester.
There is no doubt that Maartens will be bent on retaining it all the way to the finish this year.
Supported by Daniel Spence, Darren Lill, Jeff Howes and Cameron McLeod, Maartens has every chance of achieving that longed-for victory and helping HSBC to the team win. – Sapa