The latest Copa Ciclismo event is done and dusted, and what a cracker it was. Most of the die-hard Mozambican cyclists were present, with Paulo Sales doing duty as race support and Kinha Fonseca assisting him, a back injury after falling off his MTB ruling him out of the running, and Race Comissaire Messias Langa keeping time. The race started promptly at 8:05 with a slight headwind, good weather if cool conditions. Departure was from the Total Petrol Station just after the Maputo Portagem, towards Boane and the left towards Namaacha, up the Pedreira hill, down the other side and then turning around back towards Mozal, with the final straight finishing at Shoprite in Matola for a total of 90km.
The peloton remained fairly compact in the first half hour, notwithstanding a few accelerations by Carlos Sales, trying to get them up to speed. Spots were shared up front by Mario Traversi (yours truly), Sergio Grishone and Betinho Cuambe. Rui Ferreira and Imran Akuji also did some stints at the front. By the Boane climb a few of the faces were looking strained, and just after, at Pedreira hill, the peloton finally broke as Grishone, Mario, Carlos, Ricky and Betinho powered up the hill and down the other side. After the halfway point saw some tentative attacks on the uphill, as riders tried to up the tempo, but most managed to hold on, with only Grishone the victim on that climb. Boane hill saw more attacks by Carlos, then Mario then Betinho, while Ricky was staying comfortable in the slip-stream. However no one rider seemed to have the strength to make an attack stick, as the headwind sapped the energy of each attacker. By the Matola check-point however the increased tempo saw Betinho struggling to keep up and eventually fall back, leaving a lead group of just Carlos, Ricky and Mario rounding the bend towards Mozal. Tempo varied depending on who was in front, but generally the group stayed compact until the last rise before a rapid descent and climb where Mario made his move and sped away into the blowing wind, while Ricky and Carlos argued over who should follow. After the uphill and a right turn towards EN4 saw Mario opening up the gap to around 200m, the wind now a cross-wind. Still the persuers couldn't make up their mind and Mario pushed on, managing a clean exit onto EN4 and the final 6km straight towards Shoprite with a nice tailwind. He managed to open up the gap on his persuers by over a minute and a half, and crossed the line in first place.
Final results:
1st Mario Traversi 2:49:12 (New record)
2nd Carlos Sales 2:50:47
3rd Riccardo Trinidade 2:50:53
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