Mozambique National Championships - 3rd and 6th of February

On the 3^rd and 6^th of February the Mozambique National Championships took place in Marracuene, the first town outside Maputo on the EN1 highway that connects to the rest of the country. Both starts were supposed to be at 6am, but owing to the annual Marracuene Festival on the 3^rd the TT was delayed quite a bit. With a bit of a drizzle and many broken bottles on the roadside, the conditions were not ideal but once out of the town they improved considerably, with the morning sun drying the road quickly. Riders set out 3 minutes apart, a strange choice as it is customary to have one minute only between riders.. Perhaps someone didn’t want to get caught.. In any event the riders set off, and I as the previous Copa Ciclismo winner set out last. The 40km course, 20km out and 20 back, was fairly straightforward with a few gentle hills and a long up-hill finish. Some cyclists came out on their normal bikes, some had TT bars, and one had a full-on disk-wheel and TT shifters.. So the field was a hodge-podge of equipment. Not much drama in a TT race, so here are the results:

1^st – Kinha Fonseca

2^nd – Miguel Teixeira

3^rd - Mussa – cyclist hailing from Beira

photo by Guilherme da Silva

The road race took place on Sunday 6^th of February and by then the last revelers had finally gone home and the road was relatively free of glass. All the cyclists arrived on time and got cracking setting up their bikes, eyeing up the competition, and stuffing themselves with food. It was going to be a long race, 180km, similar to the SA Nationals in PE that had finished the day before (footnote – the original distance of the SA Nationals was reduced to 155km due to safety issues). Once our cyclists were ready a quick time check and away they went. We were 15 cyclists all told, with 3 from Beira and Quelimane riding in matching green jerseys. Our U23 champion (the only U23 cyclist for that matter!) Gustavo was decked out in the new Copa Ciclismo kit. Miguel Teixeira and Kinha Fonseca were decked out in almost identical bikes and kit. Zeca from past Copa fame was out with no helmet, but the organisers waived the rule seeing as he had a valid excuse.. he was allergic to helmets! Carlos Sales was present with his Panorama tour climber’s jersey and hydration pack prepared for the long distance. Julian Circo, a new entry from Swaziland joined, as did Jan “JJ Bjorn Borg” back from the States with a most beautiful carbon bike. Other cyclists of note were Patrick “Ventoux”, Imran “UCI”, Vincente Ramaya with his soldered frame, Abilio Matusse, and finally Mario “Cipollini” Traversi.

Notable by their absence were Ricky Trinidade and Betinho Cuambe.

The race started at a slowish pace until the half-way point, which came 8km sooner than expected, because the race organisers decided that a shorter race was the way to go.

Obviously this affected tactics, food intake and overall effort, as a 162km vs 180km race are two different kettle of fish. Once we were on the return leg the tempo increased considerably and attacks started coming. First off Carlos, a Beirense and JJ took off and managed a steady one minute lead beforebeing brought back into the peloton. Another break by a Beira cyclists went unanswered but was eventually brought back by a slight increase in tempo. Then on a longish climb yours truly hopped out of the saddle and was soon joined by Jan for a short duet that was eventually caught by the pelloton. The situation stabilised with the riders conscious of the final hill that awaited, and the pace slowed before the climbers attacked and sped up the hill. Miguel managed to open a gap of a few hundred metres, with Mario behind and the peloton chasing hard. Miguel began to fade, as Mario gained on him in the final km to the line, but one of the Beira cyclists broke from the chasing pack managed to pass Mario and closed on Miguel.

Final results:

1^st – Miguel Teixeira

2^nd –Beira cyclist

3^rd - Mario Traversi

Special thanks to Gustavo's mother who prepared some post-race sandwiches which quickly restored our energies after the long and tiring ride. Muito obrigado. Also thanks to Guilherme da Silva for the pictures he took. Most were out of focus but one of me doing the TT came out particularly well.

photo by Guilherme da Silva... out of focus I'm afraid