{"id":7180,"date":"2012-01-19T20:55:02","date_gmt":"2012-01-19T18:55:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/01\/kellan-gouveris-aims-for-double-first\/"},"modified":"2012-01-19T20:55:02","modified_gmt":"2012-01-19T18:55:02","slug":"kellan-gouveris-aims-for-double-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/kellan-gouveris-aims-for-double-first\/","title":{"rendered":"Kellan Gouveris Aims for Double First"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Local boy Kellan Gouveris is aiming for a debut to remember when he takes part in his first road race as a professional at The Herald VW Cycle Tour in Port Elizabeth on Sunday, February 5.<\/p>\n

The 17-year-old Pearson High School pupil, who signed a two-year contract with the Tasol-GT team in December, said he was looking forward to launching his career in his hometown. \u201cIt\u2019s fantastic because everyone here knows me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gouveris said the cycle tour, which is the second oldest national classic, held a special place in his heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was about 12 years old when I rode my first one. I did the 46km and I almost died!\u201d<\/p>\n

He came first in his age group over that distance in 2008, placed third overall in the 79km event the following year and went on to win the latter in 2010.<\/p>\n

This year, Gouveris has set his eye on the podium in the 105km Classic. \u201cI don\u2019t see why not?\u201d<\/p>\n

One of his team-mates, Nolan Hoffman, is a former winner and another, David Maree, was third last year. \u201cI just need to follow them and I\u2019ll be okay.\u201d<\/p>\n

The prize purse of R100\u00a0000 that is up for grabs between the mountain bike and road races has understandably grabbed the attention of the pro teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one of the top national classics and obviously a big goal for the team. With me being a local and it being my first race for them, they want me to do as well as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gouveris, who sees himself as a sprinter, said the course suited him because there were really only the two climbs at Theescombe and Maitlands to negotiate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think many riders will get away on the last climb as it\u2019s only halfway. Then it\u2019s basically flat all the way home.\u201d<\/p>\n

The former U\/16 South African road and track champion already impressed his home crowds in February last year when he came third in the junior national road championships.<\/p>\n

After that, he switched his focus to track sprinting and qualified for the junior world track championships in Moscow last August.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did five events, which was quite a lot, but the main one that got people\u2019s attention was the 200m, which I rode in 10.6 seconds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among those who were impressed was Tasol-GT\u2019s team owner and principal rider Dean Edwards, who had decided to retire and was looking to develop a replacement sprinter.<\/p>\n

Gouveris said Edwards decided to offer him a contract after seeing his name among the winners at the nationals. \u201cWhen he saw how hilly the circuit was, he knew that I had huge amounts of endurance for a sprinter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gouveris accepted and was released by his local amateur club Mecer-NMMU<\/a>. \u201cThey did a lot for me. Riding for them was a good stepping stone into professional racing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once he completes his matric this year, Gouveris will relocate to Johannesburg to concentrate on his newfound career.<\/p>\n

Studying, \u201cpossibly mechanical engineering\u201d, also forms part of his plans. \u201cBut it will have to be night classes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Enter online at www.heraldcycletour.co.za<\/a> or at any local cycling shop<\/a> before January 30.<\/p>\n

Alternatively, follow In_the_Bunch on Twitter or The Herald Cycle Tour on Facebook.<\/p>\n

Book your Addo accommodation at the scenic Zuurberg Inn<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Kellan<\/a><\/p>\n

Local boy Kellan Gouveris is aiming for a debut to remember when he takes part in his first road race as a professional at The Herald VW Cycle Tour in Port Elizabeth on Sunday, February 5. Photo: Fredlin Adriaan\/The Herald<\/p>\n

\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Local boy Kellan Gouveris is aiming for a debut to remember when he takes part in his first road race as a professional at The Herald VW Cycle Tour in Port Elizabeth on Sunday, February 5. The 17-year-old Pearson High School pupil, who signed a two-year contract with the Tasol-GT team in December, said he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[1289,5],"class_list":{"0":"post-7180","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-mype","8":"tag-port-elizabeth-2","9":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7180\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}