ABSA Cape Epic
From Diepsloot to Training with the Best in the World
Press Release / 29.06.2017
Exxaro special jersey winners William Mokgopo and Phillimon Sebona are changed men
2017 Exxaro Special Jersey winners William Mokgopo and Phillimon Sebona are changed men.
The Diepsloot MTB Academy riders returned at the weekend from an eight-day stay at the elite Bakala Academy in Leuven, Belgium – part of their prize for winning the race for the Exxaro special jersey – and would happily go back tomorrow.
“To say I enjoyed it would be an understatement,” said Mokgopo. “I’d move back there, that’s how much I enjoyed it.”
He said that the testing the pair of 25-year-olds had undergone at the sports academy had shown them exactly where their strengths as athletes lay and where there were weaknesses they could work on.
Sebona was confident the trip would lift their performance to the “next level”. He said it was “the best opportunity I have had in my life” and taught them to prepare for events like “proper professional athletes”.
A highlight for the duo was meeting recently retired road cycling legend Tom Boonen and the elite Etixx Quick-Step team. “Phillimon took a picture with Tom Boonen. Sadly, I was the cameraman,” laughed Mokgopo.
Their programme proper kicked in two days after their arrival in Belgium so they had some time to see the country. “The sun was setting at about 10pm so it gave us more time to explore before the hard training started,” he added. “We also saw a lot of the country while out training on our bikes.”
Reflecting on the trip and the lessons he has learnt, Mokgopo had some words of advice for people from similar backgrounds: “Where we come from it is not often we get opportunities, so when you do, use them to better yourself in a way that takes you a step closer to your dreams. Dreams do come true but only your determination and hard work will get you there.”
Mokgopo and Sebona plan to ride the Absa Cape Epic together again next year and their stay in Europe should make them difficult to beat: “Our time at Bakala helped us to know how much we can push ourselves and where we can improve.”
They each also won R25 000 to spend on educational opportunities or other life improvement initiatives. Mokgopo has yet to decide how to spend his money, but Sebona said he would be using his to expand his chicken farming business. “I want to grow it and create some job opportunities,” he explained.
Coal and heavy minerals mining company Exxaro launched its own MTB Academy in 2011 and its riders have graced the Absa Cape Epic ever since then. This year riders from three other academies – the Diepsloot MTB Academy in Gauteng, the Change A Life Foundation in KwaZulu Natal and Songo.Info from Stellenbosch – were given entries and another 10 were available for sponsors. As a result 19 teams – 38 riders – took part in the race for the Exxaro special jersey.
Absa Cape Epic founder Kevin Vermaak said sending the youngsters to the Bakala Academy was the culmination of initiatives that had begun seven or eight years ago and had “grown their own wings”.
The race for the special jersey has grown consistently since its launch in 2012 and “it’s no secret that the competition for it was more competitive this year than ever before.”
The Bakala Academy describes itself on its website as an “athletic performance centre” and a “research and testing centre of excellence”. It has a reputation as a world-class academy for research, innovation and education in sports.
Bakala have agreed to host the Exxaro jersey winners for the next three years.
* The 2018 Absa Cape Epic mountain bike stage race takes place from 18 to 25 March.
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