Chris Theko
Lesotho’s young cyclist Kabelo Makatile is headed back to Cape Town after he was re-invited by the World Cycling Centre (WCC) for another camp.
The camp is expected to run from 1 February to 7 March 2022.
Makatile is the current cycling national champion having won the title in December last year shortly after arriving back home. He is also the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) youth Olympic scholarship beneficiary who was first invited to the WCC from October to December 2021.
According to Cycling Federation of Lesotho (CFL) President Rammotang Makatile, the rider was invited and will be joining other riders from across the continent where each member federation is to be represented by one rider.
“He has been re-invited to go join other cyclists from all over the continent, this time around it is just for a month-long camp,†said Rammotang who is also Kabelo’s uncle.
The camp is aimed at preparing the riders for the upcoming African Road Championships to be held in Burkina Faso from 22-27 March 2022.
“It is a great opportunity for the young man because he will be in a number of races on a weekly basis during this time, with the main race the Tour du Cap 4 stage race in Western Cape from 3-6 March,†Rammotang said.
In the last camp past year, Kabelo had put up such an impressive performance that CFL is confident that this time around he will equally not disappoint.
Judging by performance, he will be tenable for choice to train at the UCI Cycling Training Centre in Switzerland, which would make him the second Lesotho cyclist to be placed at the centre after Tumelo Makae who was situated in Switzerland from 2018 until 2021.
Kabelo told this publication that he is excited at the prospects of securing a place in the African Championships and the Commonwealth saying the Cape Town camp has proven to be helpful in his career.
“I am excited to be going back; this places me at an opportune position to qualifying for the African Championships which is what I want to do then make sure I also qualify for the Commonwealth Games. The Cape Town camp helped me last time hence I am confident it will still be helpful even this time around,†Kabelo said.
He said the Cape Town camp was a bit challenging at first when he was invited last year but that as soon as he got acclimatized to the environment he was unstoppable.
“Because here we deal mostly with strength due to altitude, it is a different case in Cape Town because there it is about speed so it was a bit challenging at first but I hope I will be able to pick up where I left off,†said the rider.
