Professional cycling team Mail & Guardian EMG has had its shares of ups and downs. For the past seven years the team has earned kudos for its competitive, highly placed team and its dedication to transformation and development.
But last year the team’s star cyclist tested positive for testosterone use and the team lost its sponsor. Now, with a new sponsor and a relatively young team, Mail & Guardian EMG hopes to finish the cycling calendar with a bang by winning the Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge.
“We stand a good chance if everything goes right,” says Reynard Butler, who has been with the team since last year.
Butler is almost an anomaly in the world of cycling. Although the sport has been growing (cycling was said to be the fastest growing sport in South Africa last year), it is still primarily centred in Johannesburg, where most of the big cycling sponsors and professional teams are based. But Butler hails from East London.
As a youngster he rode with one of the local junior teams sponsored by Mr Price. But in the cycling world much of the scouting happens “on the bike” and there’s only so far one can go with cycling in a small town.
“Nobody from Johannesburg will see a guy from East London because there’s no racing in East London. You have to make the decision to move up to Johannesburg,” he said.
He did so, hoping to attract the attention of a larger team. Butler knew some cyclists in the Neotel team (now Mail & Guardian EMG) and asked if he could train with them. After he proved himself individually in a number of races, the team asked him to join them. He’s now been with it for more than a year.
Team captain James Perry says that this openness to helping talented young cyclists develop in their professional careers is one of the things that differentiates Mail & Guardian EMG from other professional teams.
“We’ve always focused on having a competitive team and developing young talent and new riders,” he said. “We’ve always focused on developing new professionals.”
Despite this, the team is wary of the “development” tag and members maintain that, although development is a focus, they always ride to win.
Key role
The Yorkshire EMG Academy in Paarl also plays a key role in helping the team uncover fresh talent. The academy fosters young cyclists from disadvantaged backgrounds and provides them with opportunities to race and gain experience. This year 50 cyclists from the academy will take part in the Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge.
Cyclists from the academy who show promise are invited to train with the team and may eventually graduate to full membership.
But the academy’s biggest success story took a tragic turn at the end of last year when Nolan Hoffman, the poster-child for cycling development, tested positive for drug use.
His was a true Cinderella story — he had won a number of South African championship titles, had led the team and was considered to be one of the top sprinters in the country. But a poor decision on his part — to forgo medical intervention and use testosterone to heal more quickly from a knee injury — led to his downfall. He tested positive for drug use in October last year. At the beginning of this year sponsors dropped Hoffman as an individual and Neotel dropped the EMG team.
But team owner Eugene Ruiters remained supportive. In a letter to South African Cycling he pleaded for leniency, pointing out that Hoffman’s motives were not dishonest and his actions were driven by the fact that he was the breadwinner in a poor family. “He broke the glass ceilings. His success inspired many. This rise was not easy,” Ruiters wrote. The cycling federation banned Hoffman for 14 months.
Ruiters said that this year had been the team’s annus horribilis.
“From there, it’s been a bit on the back foot. It’s been more of a survival year,” he said. “There’s been a significant step-down from previous years and this year was more about resuscitating the team.”
Despite budgetary constraints and the small size of the team, it managed to win an international tour in the Philippines, was placed highly in certain stages during a tour in Korea and beat the fifth-ranked team in the United States.
Ruiters said the team had also done well in local events which featured very big teams, like MTN and Medscheme.
Although the team is undoubtedly the underdog, it aims to punch above its weight.
“Our plan is to be very aggressive in the race and to attack when nobody expects it. Hopefully other teams will have to defend and try to catch up with us,” said Ruiters.