The UCI World Cycling Tour starts today, Thursday 23rd of August, with a 25.6km Time Trial event.  For results, please click here.  The Clube de Ciclismo de Moçambique has one rider participating in the time trial event, Lars Noren, of Swedish extraction and who has animated our local Copa Ciclismo scene, beating many younger riders and reaching the podium on multiple occasions.  He will be racing in the 60-64 age bracket and he is the last one of his age group to start (start-time at 10:59am today) - so he will be at an advantage with respect to the other riders and will hopefully be able to gain time on them in the technical time trial.


Below are profiles on the riders who are taking part in the Finals:

Miguel Duarte - 30-34 age-group.  He will be particiating in the 112km road race which starts on Sunday.  His start group contains a strong South African contingent as well as several Swazi riders that have participated in the Copa events in the past.  One rider to watch out in his group is Jaco Ferreira, winner of the Panorama Tour earlier this year together with racing partner Nico Bell.  AS for Miguel, he is current Mozambique Road champion and winner of the overall 2011 Copa Ciclismo, as well as numerous races including our most famous race, the Twin Peaks Classic.  He has been training in Portugal and came 4th in his agegroup in the 2011 UWCT qualifying event, but was unable to participate due to date clash with the African Games, where he represented his country.

 

Carlos Sales and Miguel Duarte during a training session in Namaacha

Carlos Sales - 40-44 age-group.  Carlos will also be participating in the 112km road race but in a separate start group to Miguel, leaving 10 minutes later.  His start group also contains a strong SA contingent, just over half the riders, including the likes of Stefano Madies, winner of the Msunduzi qualifying event in this agegroup, as well as Tinus Scheepers, of Lowveld Tour podium fame. There is also a strong Australian and Italian presence in this peleton, with 5 riders apiece.  Carlos' past achievements include a stunning solo victory at the 2007 Twin Peaks with a record that stands to this day, and a very strong track record in this year's Copa and FMC circuit races, reaching the podium in most of his starts.  His excellent performance in the Jock saw him reach 2nd overall in his start-group and setting the best overall Mozambican time for that race (adjusted for slightly different race distances of the years).

 

Mario Traversi, Miguel Duarte and Kinha Fonseca, podium for the 2010 Twin Peaks.  Kinha was unable to participate in the UWCT Final due to a motorbike accident, although he is fine now.

Mario Traversi - 40-44 age-group. For those of you new to this blog, this is me!  Also participating in the same group as Carlos, in the 112km distance.  This will certainly be a tough group.  Mario's past achievements include 2010 Copa Ciclismo overall champion as well as sprinter's jersey and polka-dot jersey, and 7 Copa victories overall (including 2 over Miguel, our current Champion).  His last Argus event saw him miss a sub-3 hour by 2 agonising minutes, but still, one of the best overall club times for that race.  Victories of note are the Hell of the South Race, our own version of Paris Roubaix, raced over the Moamba potholes, although a podium position in the Twin Peaks indicates potential for climbing. This current season though has not been kind to him, so the UWCT is a final chance to redeem himself.

Lars Noren receiving medal from Adamo Akuji (Father of Imran Akuji, Club president who passed away)
 
Lars Noren - 60-64 age group.  Lars will be taking part in the 96km distance to be held on Saturday 25th of August.  He has travelled from Sweden to take part in this race, where he recently came 3rd in his age-group in his National Championships, which means that he is participating in this race as a Swedish federated rider and not as a Mozambican.  No matter Lars, we know you're one of ours!  Up until April he was part of the Clube de Ciclismo de Moçambique and has reached the podium in several criterium events as well as longer racers.  Much feared within our own peleton for his no-holds-barred attacking style, he will be a force to be reckoned with in his race on saturday.  Still, he faces a tough group with again, a strong SA contingent including Christiaan Rossouw, winner of the 2012 Panorama Tour in his agegroup. 

Profile of the 112km race, which has 1350m of climbing.  The race is quite similar to the Argus in terms of distances and total climbing, except that it doesn't take part at sea level!

Forecast for race-day.  Lars will have a tough time of it with 34 degrees and a 1pm start for the road race, but his training in Mozambique should be adequate to master the heat.  Sunday's race however starts off cold and doesn't warm up much, so will be ideal racing conditions.