Loyal readers, today is Monday
the 23rd of July, and the legs are still in pain from the Jock Cycle Classique
which took place last Saturday, 21st. The Clube de Ciclismo de Moçambique
took part with 4 entrants to the race, and all started together in the same
group, DL. This was the last group of the day, but it didn't stop them
from (almost) all putting in some sterling performances at the head of
proceedings and possibly putting in the best times in the Jock since the Club
started participating way back in around 2007. The standout performance
has to be that of Carlos Sales, who was closely shadowed by Patrick Verissimo
and Sergio Grichone. A strong contingent of Swazi riders was also
present, and although some of them have shown some good performances in our Moz
races, taking the Clássica de Goba race held a month ago, they weren't able to
challenge the Moz team for top 10 spots or even the podium. As for my
performance.. well, it's a miracle that I'm even writing this blog because I
felt like lying down on the side of the road on stage 3 and letting fate take
it's course.. But in my own way I too came back with a victory, which was to
actually finish the race and get my finisher's trophy.
But enough about me.. and back to the race commentary.
Stage 1 was a rather rushed affair, with us riders getting to the start with barely minutes to spare before the starter's pistol. As we'll see later this rush was to have dire consequences for some of us later on. The temperature in Barberton at the start was close to ZERO degrees. Yes, you read that correctly. I had double arm-warmers on! And still the cold bit through. Sergio was equally well dressed but Patrick and Carlos were dressed as if they were racing in Maputo. For Patrick there was no choice in the matter, having left some strategic bits of kit in Maputo! We all shook hands before getting going, but once we were over the timing mats there was a whirl of speed and quite honestly the race escaped from me. Carlos, Sergio and Patrick were well on their way at the head of the peloton pushing up the speed while very rapidly riders were shed from the back. I for my part managed to get into a rhythm and started gobbling up the back-markers one by one, after my less than glorious start. But once at race speed and with the temperature slowly rising as we climbed up Hilltop (Hilltop?!?! - It's a Bl**dy MOUNTAIN!), the cold became less of an issue. Instead it was replaced by lactic acid as the steep inclines, averaging 8% but hitting out around 12% in some corners really took the power out of the (my!) legs.
Carlos made a break near the end of the climb and sprinted for group honours, while Sergio kept him in his sights a minute later and Patrick shortly afterwards. Three of our riders made it into the top 10, with mostly better placings than our Swazi Counterparts, who however also did quite well. After a welcome rest and some breakfast, the riders headed off to the start of Stage 2, which wound it's way around the back streets of Nelspruit until connecting with the new N3 route. Once the race comissaire car was out of the way and we completed the neutral zone the pace picked up considerably and right away the peloton split with a select group going off the front and keeping the pace high on the fast but windy N3 section with it's undulations. Boulders climb though loomed large in the way and right from the start of that climb Sergio put in a big effort to go off the front, forcing the pace and leaving the peloton gasping and pacing their way along. By mid-way though the extremely steep gradient of the long 8km climb took it's toll and Carlos caught Sergio and powered on trying to catch the lone South African rider leading the group. Once over the top then started the VERY fast descent with tight technical corners that tried the concentration of most riders. Carlos took many risks on the descent to close the gap to the riders in front with final results for the stage seeing Carlos in 2nd, Patrick 3rd and Sergio 5th. Pretty impressive again!
Stage 3, the final one of the day would decide the winner amongst the Moz team and bragging rights for the year, although 4th place was more or less decided already with Mario (me) taking that spot, barring some sort of divine intervention. The stage started under a now burning Lowveld sun with an undulating course that would test the already tired muscles to breaking point. No long climb this time, but a constantly altering landscape of up and down that would make getting into a comfortable rhythm very difficult indeed. Again, the 3 Moz riders set the pace at the front of the pack as the peloton splintered on the very first hill. Carlos halfway through the stage put in an attack and went into time-trial mode and after a while Patrick managed to bridge up to him with the lead break letting them go almost uncontested. Some other rider also managed to go off the front and in the confusion of earlier start groups on the road getting caught; it was hard to keep track of who was who. Some kms from the finish Carlos upped the pace to take 2nd place of the stage with Patrick a minute after him taking 3rd and Sergio some minutes down taking 6th place. Mario, caught behind a bushfire (divine intervention) wasn't able to monopolise on his by now fantastic time-trial skills and so slipped down the rankings to 4th overall in the Moz group and about 500th out of the whole race :-)
UNOFFICIAL results below, as Racetec is still updating some of the results and chip numbers, which we expect will be sorted out in the next day or two:
Stage results for Moz riders:
But enough about me.. and back to the race commentary.
Stage 1 was a rather rushed affair, with us riders getting to the start with barely minutes to spare before the starter's pistol. As we'll see later this rush was to have dire consequences for some of us later on. The temperature in Barberton at the start was close to ZERO degrees. Yes, you read that correctly. I had double arm-warmers on! And still the cold bit through. Sergio was equally well dressed but Patrick and Carlos were dressed as if they were racing in Maputo. For Patrick there was no choice in the matter, having left some strategic bits of kit in Maputo! We all shook hands before getting going, but once we were over the timing mats there was a whirl of speed and quite honestly the race escaped from me. Carlos, Sergio and Patrick were well on their way at the head of the peloton pushing up the speed while very rapidly riders were shed from the back. I for my part managed to get into a rhythm and started gobbling up the back-markers one by one, after my less than glorious start. But once at race speed and with the temperature slowly rising as we climbed up Hilltop (Hilltop?!?! - It's a Bl**dy MOUNTAIN!), the cold became less of an issue. Instead it was replaced by lactic acid as the steep inclines, averaging 8% but hitting out around 12% in some corners really took the power out of the (my!) legs.
Carlos made a break near the end of the climb and sprinted for group honours, while Sergio kept him in his sights a minute later and Patrick shortly afterwards. Three of our riders made it into the top 10, with mostly better placings than our Swazi Counterparts, who however also did quite well. After a welcome rest and some breakfast, the riders headed off to the start of Stage 2, which wound it's way around the back streets of Nelspruit until connecting with the new N3 route. Once the race comissaire car was out of the way and we completed the neutral zone the pace picked up considerably and right away the peloton split with a select group going off the front and keeping the pace high on the fast but windy N3 section with it's undulations. Boulders climb though loomed large in the way and right from the start of that climb Sergio put in a big effort to go off the front, forcing the pace and leaving the peloton gasping and pacing their way along. By mid-way though the extremely steep gradient of the long 8km climb took it's toll and Carlos caught Sergio and powered on trying to catch the lone South African rider leading the group. Once over the top then started the VERY fast descent with tight technical corners that tried the concentration of most riders. Carlos took many risks on the descent to close the gap to the riders in front with final results for the stage seeing Carlos in 2nd, Patrick 3rd and Sergio 5th. Pretty impressive again!
Stage 3, the final one of the day would decide the winner amongst the Moz team and bragging rights for the year, although 4th place was more or less decided already with Mario (me) taking that spot, barring some sort of divine intervention. The stage started under a now burning Lowveld sun with an undulating course that would test the already tired muscles to breaking point. No long climb this time, but a constantly altering landscape of up and down that would make getting into a comfortable rhythm very difficult indeed. Again, the 3 Moz riders set the pace at the front of the pack as the peloton splintered on the very first hill. Carlos halfway through the stage put in an attack and went into time-trial mode and after a while Patrick managed to bridge up to him with the lead break letting them go almost uncontested. Some other rider also managed to go off the front and in the confusion of earlier start groups on the road getting caught; it was hard to keep track of who was who. Some kms from the finish Carlos upped the pace to take 2nd place of the stage with Patrick a minute after him taking 3rd and Sergio some minutes down taking 6th place. Mario, caught behind a bushfire (divine intervention) wasn't able to monopolise on his by now fantastic time-trial skills and so slipped down the rankings to 4th overall in the Moz group and about 500th out of the whole race :-)
UNOFFICIAL results below, as Racetec is still updating some of the results and chip numbers, which we expect will be sorted out in the next day or two:
Stage results for Moz riders:
Name
Stage 1 Stage 2
Stage 3 Total Time
Carlos
Sales 01:13:13
01:43:06
01:50:22 4:46:41
Patrick
Verissimo 01:15:10
01:45:47
01:51:25 4:52:22
Sergio
Grichone 01:14:11
01:46:10
01:58:02 4:58:23
Mario
Traversi 01:24:26
02:06:25
02:24:02 5:54:48
Overall
results for Start group DL:
1
Meyer, Dewald 04:41:25
2 Carlos Sales 04:46:41
3 Verissimo, Patrick 04:52:23
4 Basson, Albe 04:55:59
5 Pretorius, Johan 04:57:15
6 Sergio Grichone 04:58:23
....
19 Mario Traversi 05:54:53
2 Carlos Sales 04:46:41
3 Verissimo, Patrick 04:52:23
4 Basson, Albe 04:55:59
5 Pretorius, Johan 04:57:15
6 Sergio Grichone 04:58:23
....
19 Mario Traversi 05:54:53
As for the undesired consequences, Carlos' car was broken into while we were racing and his and Patrick's stuff was nicked.. a sad end to a rather fantastic race for the Clube.
ReplyDeleteOk, final results are in from RACETEC. Overall results are:
ReplyDelete93rd - Carlos Sales
106th - Patrick Verissimo
129th - Sergio Grichone Langa
288th - Mario Traversi
This is out of 478 finishers of the 3 stages. Winner's time (Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg, who took a few medals at our African Games) was 3:48:55. Considering that there were 37 elite riders at the race, and only the hard-men in RSA do this race our overall results are pretty impressive indeed!
Of the Swazi riders I picked up 2 results - William Kelly in 132nd and Moshoeshoe Khumalo in 134th place. If I'm not mistaken Moshoeshoe won our Clássica de Goba race.. so this time the roles are reversed.