When Reinardt Janse van Rensburg was 12 his dad bought him a bike for Christmas. He started racing and was soon hooked, becoming the National Time Trial champion in his age category two years later. He soon moved from club teams to bigger teams such as MTN Qhubeka before joining Argos Shimano, a world tour team, for the 2013 season. Van Rensburg was the South African time trial champion in 2012. His first international victory was a stage-two win in the Jayco Herald Sun Tour in Australia. Last year he won the Tour of Morocco comfortably, and his debut win in Europe was the fourth stage of the Tour de Bretagne in France. Adapting to different roads and weather conditions can’t have been easy for the 24-year-old but his determination to succeed has meant that this year he’ll feature in some of the biggest races in the world. — Fatima Asmal
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