Tour de Maurice - Stage 6

Beau Plan to L'Aventure du Sucre (99.5km)

Stage 6 was a flat stage, and would not have an impact on the GC as long as we kept out of trouble.  With plenty of rain falling that was not as easy as it seemed.  After many attacks at the start of the stage, things settled down for a while, and Standard Bank controlled the race.  I punctured and while trying to get back into the bunch after a wheel change, I hit a pothole and punctured again!  So, after a second wheel change, I finally managed to get back into the bunch to find that a break had gone containing 3 riders, of which one was Philip Fourie (TCS).

So, once again I just settled into a position close to the front and stayed out of trouble.  The last 10km Standard Bank started to really push the pace, wanting a stage win for their sprinters.  The break was caught close to the finish, and after a furious last 10km or so, the race was over and Andrew had managed to keep his third place on the GC.

Tour de Maurice - Stage 5

Rose Hill Plaza to L’Aventure du Sucre (114.4km)

Stage 5 was the second of the climbing stages, with Eau Bouillie (4.5km @ 6%) coming close to the finish.

The goal of this stage was to get Andrew to the climb with no problems.  Once again, we needed to make sure we got into any moves that went, so that we did not have to expend a lot of effort chasing a break.  Unfortunately, things did not go quite according to plan.  After a number of early attacks, the Yellow Jersey (Sylvain Georges) punctured.  The bunch sat up to wait for him, but after a few moments, riders started going off the front.  In the ensuing confusion, a break formed, and we weren’t represented.  Fortunately though, Standard Bank was not represented either, and they combined with DSTV (actually the second Standard Bank team), and controlled the front.

The stage was very comfortable, while everyone waited for the big climb of the day.  My main responsibility was to stay close to the front and out of trouble.  Leading up to the climb, Standard Bank upped the tempo and started putting pressure on.  At this point I was not feeling great and I was getting a bit concerned.  Fortunately though, when we hit the climb I did better than I expected and had good power.  Not enough to stay with the front guys, but better than expected.  On this climb, Sylvain George showed his class and rode away from the rest of the contenders.  The only survivor of the break, David Kinjah, stayed away over the climb and went on to claim a good solo stage win.  Unfortunately on the descent, Andrew misjudged a corner and had a minor crash.  This lost him a bit of time and enabled Yannick Lincoln to get enough time on him to take second place on the General Classification.

Tour de Maurice - Stage 4

Municipalité de Port-Louis to L’Aventure du Sucre (110.8km)

 

Originally when we looked at the route map, we thought that the stage would start up the main road between Port Louis and Grand Baie.  This road is a slight drag, very exposed, with a strong cross-wind (coming from behind).  Perfect gutter conditions, so the plan was to go to the front right at the start and see if we could split up the bunch.  Later in the stage, there was a 14km section that would also be very hard, so this stage was going to be tough.

Unfortunately, the route turned off the main road, and went along a narrow road, through plenty of towns.  Not good for a sustained gutter strategy, but we went ahead and strung the bunch out anyway.  After a lot of pressure, Philip Fourie (TCS) went off the front and got a small gap.  Next, Melt Swanepoel attacked, and I went with.  At this point, Standard Bank (holding the leaders jersey), was content to let it go and we quickly got the gap up to a minute.

The three of us were working well together, when Melt unfortunately punctured.  At this point, we had just over a 1 minute break.  Philip and I slowed for a while, but we were not sure if Melt had received assistance and the team car indicated that the gap was starting to close.  After about 5km, we made the decision to go again and unfortunately Melt was not able to get across to us.

The long, slow, uphill section of the course started, and I felt that if we could get over the top, we would have a chance of making it to the finish – about 15km descent.  Close to the top, Philip popped off and I was left alone to see if I could try to solo to the finish.  I took the 2 KOM primes, but was caught with about 8km to go to the finish.

From a GC perspective, nothing changed, but my break allowed the team and Andrew to have an easy day, so job done!  I was also awarded the jersey for the Most Aggressive rider for the day.

Tour de Maurice - Stage 3

Stage 3: Pailles to Médine (83.3km)

Stage 3 was a climbing stage, going over Chamarel (3.2km @8.5%).  This was where the major contenders would become apparent, even though the climb was too far from the finish to be decisive.

With only Andrew high up on the GC, the team plan was to make sure that we had representation in every move that went before the climb.  Racing was again very fast with the wind being a big factor.  Having ridden the climb a couple of days before, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to match the front guys, so my plan was to just ride steady just above threshold.  When the climb came, the bunch disintegrated and it was clear who the main guys in the race were.  A small group containing Andrew Mclean, Sylvain Georges, Yannick Lincoln, David Kinjah, Melt Swanepoel went over first, with riders like Jaco Ferreira, Michael van Staden, Thomas Desvaux going over in ones and twos.  I just kept it steady, knowing there would be about 30km to the finish.

I went over the top with Philip Fourie (TCS) and had a hairy descent.  My brake blocks were grabbing and locking up my back wheel.  At the bottom of the descent, another Mauritian rider from Fit For Life joined us, and we started the lonely timetrial to the finish.

Once again, Andrew Mclean more than held his own, taking third on the stage, and lying second on GC.

 

Tour de Maurice - Stage 2

Stage 2: Ruisseau Créole to Médine Time Trial (14.2km)

Stage 2 took place in the afternoon of the first day of racing.  A 14.2km timetrial, which was fairly flat, but with the same finishing drag as stage 1.  The wind was blowing really hard and across, making equipment choices a hot topic of debate.

I had hoped to be closer to the top of the GC when the timetrial started, and with a good TT, was hoping to be in the top 10 of the race.  Our slip up in stage 1 had put paid to that ambition, but I still wanted to give it my best shot, having gone through the hassle of bringing a TT bike and disc wheels etc with me.

I had Ben Melt Swanepoel as my minute man.  With him not having a TT bike, I had a chance of catching him, and keeping the motivation levels high!  I felt really good at the start of the TT, and by the halfway mark was closing on Melt.  The second half of the TT was uphill and a strong cross-wind, which made it a bit tougher on the TT bike.  I had chosen not to use the disc wheel and was riding my HED Stinger 50’s.  I wasn’t able to catch Melt, but had a good showing anyway.  Taking 9^th for the stage.  Mark Thijs (Toyota Cyclelab) had a great ride, taking 8^th, but most amazing was Andrew.  He took second behind Sylvain Georges by 18sec.

Tour de Maurice - Stage 1

Stage 1: Curepipe to Jonction Bol (Flic en Flac) 86.4km

 

Stage 1 started at the Municipal Buildings in Curepipe with a lot of fanfare.  13 teams were taking part, meaning that there were about 80 riders in total. Being a flat stage, the wind was going to be a major factor (35km/h SE), and with plenty of fresh legs and adrenaline around, it would be pretty dangerous as well.  Unfortunately I only remembered to switch on my Garmin about 10km into the race, so I just added the missing section into the route above.

The day before the race started, we went and had a look at Chamarel (the big climb on Stage 3), and also took a look at the section of Stage 1 past Le Morne, a long drag which could have an impact on the stage.  Our plan for the stage was to try to have representation in every break, and try to keep together for the last 10km of the stage.  The last 5km had a big gutter section, then a short tailwind climb, at which point we planned to launch Andrew Mclean.

As I expected, the race started very fast!  The first 10km were along the main highway between Port Louis and the airport, and the attacks were coming very quickly.  Staying close to the front of the bunch is very important in such windy conditions, and just trying to switch on my Garmin saw me move right to the back.  We turned off the highway, and headed down some narrow roads through the cane fields and small towns.  It took me a good few kilometres to fight my way back to the front.  Just in time to see an attack move off the front containing Jaco Ferreira (TCS), and Yannick Lincoln (FTS), and a Standard Bank rider.  Two of the danger men in the tour.  The gap opened up quite quickly, and was bad for us!  Andrew decided that it needed to be brought back.  With no help from any of the other teams, we chased hard and caused plenty of damage behind us.  We hit the start of the drag past Le Morne with the gap closing, and Andrew attacked hard and bridged across, taking about 20 riders with him.  Unfortunately, none of our team were able to hold on to Andrew, and we all got dropped.  This put paid to our plan for the last 10km, but at least Andrew was with the main contenders and we had brought the break back.

The last 20km was just about getting to the finish in one piece.  Meanwhile Andrew took third in the stage, with Sylvain Georges riding away from the group at the finish and holding a gap of 16sec.