South African cycling will have a lot to cheer about in just over a week, as Reinardt Janse van Rensburg becomes the seventh person from the country to line up in a Grand Tour. His Argos-Shimano team yesterday confirmed its line up for the Vuelta a España, selecting the 24 year old in his debut professional season.
“This has been the plan all year,” Janse van Rensburg told VeloNation. “About a month and a half ago they told me it’s sure that I’ll be doing the Vuelta if I am in good shape and healthy but it’s always nice to get confirmation and put it out there. It was good to tell my family that it’s official.”
Quizzed on what he’s hoping to get out of the Vuelta, he said, “the first objective is to get to the finish of my first Grand Tour. Hopefully I can do a top three in a stage. That would be great. In the pure sprint stages we will be going for Ramon Sinkeldam or Nikias Arndt and then on one of the more rolling stages with uphill finishes I will have my chances to have a go.”
Janse van Rensburg completed the Tour of Poland over two weeks ago as the last build up race to the Vuelta. He picked up two top ten placings although he described the race as “really hard.”
Last year while part of the MTN-Qhubeka squad, he enjoyed a successful breakout year with 14 UCI victories. This resulted in several WorldTour outfits looking for his services until he eventually settled with the Dutch team.
“It was difficult in the beginning,” he said of settling into Europe this year. “Personally difficult as well but I’ve been through all those experiences now like finding myself a new house and sorting everything out. It took some energy but it’s all slowly coming together and I am building condition now and getting into some good form again. I haven’t been in the top shape I had last year but I think I am pretty close to it at the moment.”
South African cycling has a lot to be grateful for in 2013, with Daryl Impey becoming the first person from the country to wear the yellow jersey in the Tour de France. Stepping up to a Pro Continental level, Janse van Rensburg’s previous team MTN-Qhubeka has also had a highly successful season, winning Milan San Remo along with 11 other victories. They’re currently also leading the Volta a Portugal.
“MTN has had an incredible year, he said of his former team. “It’s hard not to follow as everyone’s speaking about them. Everybody’s already thinking they could be a WorldTour team pretty soon so it’s a big compliment of what they’ve done in just one year. I’m still good friends with all the riders and we’ll always be good friends so I am very happy for them.”
Although the season’s had a difficult start in his own words, Janse van Rensburg has enjoyed top ten results in prestigious races like Tour de Romandie, Critérium du Dauphiné, Tour of Belgium and Tour de Pologne. It’s probably not far off to predict he’ll be adding to this in the Vuelta a España.