This was my last race before taking a bit of a breather. I have been training hard and racing since the beginning of December last year, and have been feeling a bit tired over the last month or so. Physically I have been okay, but mentally it has been a bit tough. So, now I'll take it a bit easier, do some nice coffee shop rides and just relax a bit. The 40+ Cyclelab team decided to race in the 30+ category.
Stage 1: 8km Prologue
The prologue course was a fast 8km route with a gradual 1% descent. I was hoping to do really well because it really suited me. The course was part of the same course that was used in the Provincials TT, and over this section of the course I had managed to match Andrew Mclean's time over this part. From a team perspective it was also important that we had as many riders close to the top of GC as possible. Only having Andrew at the top of the GC made the tactics for other teams a lot easier, as they would only have one rider in our team to worry about.
Overall I was reasonably happy with my TT, not ecstatic. I did the 8km route in 9m52, and ended up 26sec off the winner Graeme Cronje. Andrew Mclean took second at 3 seconds down. As a team we were happy with the result, because it meant we did not have to defend the yellow jersey for the whole tour.
Stage 2: 120km
Stage 2 was the longest stage of the tour. The route had changed a bit from the previous year, and we would no longer be riding over the rolling hills close to Heidelberg. The course was very flat, but in this part of the world, the wind can have a major impact on the racing. My job for the day was to mark Graeme Cronje, and I had to make sure that if he went in a move, I went with. The rest of the team had to cover any dangerous moves. If all stayed together, Andrew Mclean would make his move in the last 30km of the race when there would be a lot of opportunity to gutter any followers. I would have to help Andrew establish a break if the race was still together with 30km to go.
Quite early in the race, about 20km in, a big move went. This break contained Johan Labuschagne and Martin Atterbury (Cyclelab 30+), Andreas Studer (Daikin Gu), Jorge Faria (Wadeville), Marco Swart and Jeffrey Kriel (MTN/Club 100). Johan and Martin drove the pace really hard, and the first casualty was Marco Swart, then later Martin Atterbury popped. Unfortunately, Johan burnt all his matches and also got dropped with the time gap quite big, about 4min if I remember correctly. Although Johan is riding in a different team, he is also from the Cyclelab club, and this was his category, so we had not tried to close the gap and damage his tour chances. Now we had a problem because the time gap was large and Daikin Gu were a strong team. Andrew called us to the front and we started the chase with about 25km left to go. With the wind conditions the way they were, the bunch was soon shredded and the only survivors were Andrew Mclean and myself (Cyclelab 40+), Graeme Cronje, David Garrett and Moolman Welgemoed (Daikin Gu), and Donovan Jackson (MTN/Club 100). Daikin Gu and Club 100 had riders down the road, so they did not need to contribute to the chase. So, it was left to Andrew, myself, and Graeme Cronje. About 2km's from the finish, I eventually popped off as Andrew put in a huge final effort. In the meantime, Andreas Studer (Daikin Gu) and got away from Jorge Faria and Jeffrey Kriel and ridden himself into the yellow jersey, with a time gap of around 1 min.
Stage 3: Criterium (8 laps x 5km)
Stage 3 was an 8 lap criterium. Each lap was 5km, with a short climb (1km) up to the start finish line. My job for the day was to try to get away and see if I could stay away long enough to do some damage and let Andrew counter later. Andrew would try to win the stage, and at least move from 3rd to 2nd in GC, since he was only 3 seconds behind Graeme. The race started, and Daikin put their whole team on the front and set a very fast pace. With the pace so high, it was very difficult to get off the front, particularly with Moolman Welgemoed being so quick, he could close down attacks very quickly. In all, I tried to get away 4 times, but Daikin Gu kept the race under complete control and I had not success at all.
Andrew did manage to get enough bonus seconds from the sprint prime and the finish to move ahead of Graeme Cronje by 1 second, but did no real damage to Andreas in yellow.
Stage 4: 101km Lap Race (John Boscoe Circuit)
Stage 4 would be 3 laps of the same circuit used for CGC Provincials. Again, this is a fairly flat circuit, that can be very tough in the right wind conditions, which we fortunately had!
Tactics for the day were simple. Attack early, and keep attacking until we could get Andrew away in a break. No problem if yellow went with him because it would isolate Andreas from his teammates. We were not confident, as we did not think we would be able to ride 1 minute into Daikin Gu. But, we decided to race for first place, and not settle for second.
Once again Daikin Gu went to the front and set a fast pace. After a few kilometres, we turned into a good gutter wind, and started attacking. In my opinion, Daikin Gu made a mistake in closing down all the attacks, because they put in a lot of big efforts. Heading up a long drag with a strong crosswind, the bunch was splitting up fast. Eventually I could not sustain the pace, but the damage had been done and Andrew went away with Andreas Studer, Craig Harvey and Gary Rabie (Bulk Pack Meat/Trek), and Graeme Cronje. This was exactly what we wanted - to isolate yellow. Andreas must have been feeling confident, because he took the sprint prime. Andrew and Graeme immediately attacked him after the prime and opened a gap on him and Craig Harvey. Craig's teammate was with Andrew and Graeme, so there was no need for Craig to close the gap, leaving Andreas trying to close it down in a strong tailwind. So, after 20km into the stage Andrew was away with Graeme and Gary Rabie. The gap quickly opened to about 1m30s, but then the chase started with Club 100 and Werner Moolman (Mr. Price) also helping. For us it was very much a free ride and finally the boot was on the other foot.
For the next lap the gap stayed at just over 1min, but Daikin Gu were putting in a huge effort. Then on the second lap, Daikin forced the bunch into the gutter and soon the race was down to about 10 riders in the chase group. In doing so, they lost a number of allies so it may not have been the best option with still half the race to go.
The pace slowed a bit and the group grew again, with Club 100 and Mr. Price once again helping with the chase. On the last lap, we started to attack Daikin again, mainly to disrupt their chase efforts. Then with about 10km left to go the gap had been reduced to 35seconds and things were getting very tight. Fortunately for us, the Daikin guys had put everything into the chase, and suddenly the wheels came off and the chase ran out of steam. Coming over the finish line, we were given provisional times, and Andrew had won the stage by 1m02s, which, along with time bonuses, would give him overall victory in the tour. An unbelievable ride!!
Overall results can be found at http://www.circus.co.za/results.htm
My power stats for the race can be seen at http://tinyurl.com/lsqz3a
Overall, the best Vet's tour I've taken part in. Thanks to the organisers and officials, as well as to sponsors like Nashua Mobile for making it happen!
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