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.