Squad: Race Objectives
No clear objectives or specific goals for this race. Just happy to receive a wild card for a HC race in our home country. We don't have strong punchers or a strong sprinter for this terrain, so getting in the breaks should keep the sponsors happy.
Race Highlights:
Stage 1
Spoiler
No highlights for us. A very quiet stage. The final lumps proved to much for Abdallah too handle. We also had nobody in the break
Hoffman (Metinvest - Emirates) a took convincing sprint victory
Stage 2
Spoiler
Only mentionable result for us was Ngock Yves Ngue and Adrien finishing 9th and 13th respectively in the bunch sprint. However, earlier in the day JC Nel managed to get in the initial break. He wasn't as strong as his companions, but nonetheless he stuck with them for most of the stage.
JC Nel along with his breakaway comapanions.
In a few seasons' time we should see JC develop into quite a handy rider. (74MO 74 HILL 80FTR)
Ngock featuring in the reduced peleton's sprint finish
Stage 3
Spoiler
No result for us in the sprint finish. Strangely enough most of the 'pure' sprinters (besides for Hoffman) struggled a lot during this tour, besides for the final stage. We did see some positive, attacking riding from our youngsters. Louis Meintjes and once again JC Nel. Louis managed to stick the break of the day with 4 others.
Nel crests the first climb in 2nd place.
Meintjes eventually made the break of the day
Hoffman was very dominant once again. Grabbing more bonus seconds
Stage 4
Spoiler
Once again the sprint proved too tough for Abdallah even though he tagged along in one of the sprint trains. Only managed a top 20. Also, no rider in the break, so a very boring stage for us once again!
Abdallah featured in his Egyptian National Champ jersey, but never had the legs in the sprint
Nick van der Lijke (HTC) takes a surprise victory, beating stage favourite and race leader, Nolan Hoffman
Stage 5
Spoiler
The infamous stage that caused major upset with some managers. It was eventually replayed and unfortunately for us the 2nd time round wasn't nearly as successful as the first time. We didn't have any notable results to mention.
Nicolas Roche (ING) took the stage. Hoffman was truly inspired by being the race leader and finished in the front group, retaining his lead.
Stage 6
Spoiler
Another stage that ended with Froome (Jaguar) getting a small gap on the final climb, held it on the descent and finished just ahead of a large group containing race leader, Hoffman. Not much to report for MTN besides for Nel going on the attack, but never made it to the front break. Ngock finished in the top 20 once agian.
Nel has been very active this tour which bodes well for his future development as a breakaway specialist.
Froome took a solo victory into the quaint little town of Franschoek
Adrien and Ngock finished in the 2nd bunch containing all the favourites
Stage 7
Spoiler
It was a cold, rainy day that turned out to the only day where Abdallah could manage some sort of a result. Meintjes got into the early break again. The wet conditions saw a number of MTN riders hitting the deck in the final kilometers, luckily not affect Ngock's position in the overall. He finished the tour in 17th place overall.
Meintjes, Africa's next big thing, found himself in the brak again
Despite being badly positioned, Abdallah got into the top 10 in the final sprint.
Nolan Hoffman was the surprise winner overall. Keeping the leader's jersey from day one. No doubt he kept the locals happy.
A number of MTN riders were victims of the wet conditions and finished their tour off with a painful, stinging shower.
Summary:
We didn't expect much from this tour. We at least had two top 10 finishes and Ngock found himself in the top 20 of the GC. JC and Louis both impressed by getting into some of the daily breaks, boding well for their future development and their future on this team.
Race Objectives
Although it's not an important race for us, we expected at least a Top 5 in the GC, a Top 3 with some luck and hopefully one or two stage wins. Rodas is our leader and was a named favourite for a solid GC position. It is a relatively weak field with just over 60 riders in the peleton. Expect us to feature in the mountains and very quiet on flat stages as we don't have a sprinter entered. We definitely had high hopes for this race.
We don't expect much from this stage as we don't have a puncher or a sprinter (if the bunch was to come back together). It started off very quiet with no early break, but the result was one to savour for our team!
A very quiet start and no early attempts for a breakaway.
Eventually Lutsenko tried his along with Gougeard (Evian). They were later joined by Di Luca (JK Cycling), Feng and Yeung (Armavia)
They were caught on the penultimate slope, but Lutsenko stuck there and attacked again on the final incline along with Di Luca.
Lutsenko attacks and leaves Di Luca behind on the last descent!
He kept his lead and finished ahead of the back! Great finish by the youngster loaned from Pendleton's!
Unfortunately Rodas was caught napping along with some other favourites and lost about 30 seconds.
An important day for us. We'll be looking to defend Lutsenko's lead as well as keep Rodas from losing more time. Unfortunately Lutsenko had to sprint early to prevent his leader's jersey from being lost to the breakaway. This left him out of contention of a good finish, but nonetheless, we stayed out of trouble and kept the jersey.
MTN controlling the front
MTN was doing a good job to keep Rodas and Lutsenko safe.
The final sprint was chaotic!
Win goes to the loan break, Suryadi (Armavia), but the jersey stayed with MTN.
Another day for the big climbers. A massive climb tops it off. Maybe Rodas can redeem himself after his crash...
Mihaylov was the day's lone ranger.
Kenya Air was in control of things.
Rodas attacks on the first climb! He is joined by Landa, Di Luca and Bakhin.
They catch the lone escapee at the foot of the final climb.
However, the bunch isn't keen on letting the break go. Magna brings the lead down.
Lutsenko is struggling and looks to lose his Best Young Rider jersey to Alizadeh.
Kenya and Magna set a cracking pace and caught the Rodas group.
Rodas attacks again with others, but the can't break Kenya's grip.
Rodas and Ihlenfeldt are both dropped from the front group.
Rohregger took the win ahead of Martinez and Mestre.
Rodas lost even more time to the GC contenders and Lutsenko lost his 2nd spot in the GC as well as his best young rider jersey. Another demoralising day for our squad.
The last and final mountain stage. This should be a good indicator of the final GC, but a time trial still remains. Unfortunately, our best time-trialer, Perry, didn't finish yesterday's stage.
Lutsenko was very busy in the sprints early on.
There was a constant flurry of attacks up the final climb, but Magna managed to keep everything in once piece. No attacks from MTN, though.
Suryadi (Armavia) took the surprise win! Pretty much a bunch sprint!
Nothing to mention for MTN. All our riders finished in the main group.
The dreaded time trial! MTN has no strong TTers in their entire roster, nevermind this squad. Our only hopes for a Top 5 stage finish, Perry, dropped out of the race. Hopefully Craig Lewis can get us a top 10 finish. Our other priority is keeping Ihlenfeldt (9th) in the top 10 and maybe getting Rodas (12th) into the top 10.
Craig Lewis was considered a candidate for the stage, but his legs weren't great after all the work he did for the team the past 10 days. He at least managed an 8th place.
Lutsenko had a decent time trial finishing in 13th.
Ihlenfeldt absolutely hates anything with the word "time" in it. He finished 44th (out of 49) and slipped down to 12th.
Rodas fared better, but missed the top 10 by 15 seconds!
The final stage. Just happy to get this tour over with. Luck wasn't on our side this time around. Oh well, at least the luck can't get worse, right? No, it can.
Nobody was keen on setting the pace.
Eventually Giacomo Scarponi (Sauber) attacked. He won by 30 mins!
More bad luck for us as Rodas hits the deck! AGAIN! When will that clown learn his lesson about riding at the back?
Rodas drops down a spot in the GC as a result of the crash.
Summary:
Well, we didn't expect much from this tour and things went pear-shaped after the first 5 days, but we walked away with a stage win.
Meintjes is indeed great talent, i am still jealous you signed him, but when i stole Hoffman from you, you have at least the other South African star, the future one.
I thought he (Louis) is not for sale material.
Hoffman, we will see, but you know ,he is a superstar now, leading the PCT rankings.
Good luck in March.
I apologise for being fairly inactive this last while. I have been rather busy at school, as the last month was a test month and all my other time was spent on designing jerseys for various databases. I now however, have more time on my hands again. I promise to keep up to date with reports from now on. I don't feel that there will be any major recaps of the past two months as there has been nothing noteworthy to report.
From now on all races will have a report and months will have both a preview and report. I'll begin with a preview for a May and a report will soon follow for Donetsk GP.
Comments
We go to this race with the hope that Abdallah could get a fairly decent result. Most of the best sprinters in the division are present, so we don't believe we'll be able to achieve anything exceptional. Any points scored will be satisfactory!
Glava Tour
Squad:
Ngock Yves Ngue
Alexey Lutsenko
Ben Youcef Abdalla
Rafiki Uwimana
Heiko Redecker
Christian Mager
Herman Fouche
Comments:
Once again, we don't have the strongest squad. This isn't an important race for us, so no real expectations. We'll be happy with every single point scored.
Turul Romanei
Squad:
Julian Rodas
Stefan Ihlenfeldt
Cherif Abdallah
Alexey Lutsenko
Louis Meintjes
JC Nel
Heiko Redecker
Comments: We come here with a fairly strong squad. Our leader, Rodas, is present and we hope he can perform on the mountain stage. He also has Stefan, who performed surprisingly well in the Middle East Tour, and Louis Meintjes, Africa's next superstar, for support. We also hope to see Abdallah banking in on some points on the flat stages.
Boras Runt
Squad:
Tyler Day
Johann Rabie
Dennis van Niekerk
Herman Fouche
Ben Youcef Abdalla
Rafiki Uwimana
Christian Mager
Comments:
Hopefully Tyler will do us proud here. He is a decent sprinter, but we're unsure how he'll perform against the very best in the division, as they'll more than likely be present. We brought a strong lead-out train for him with Ben Youcef Abdalla, Uwimana, Fouche and even Rabie could help out.
GP Tunis
Squad:
Ngock Yves Ngue
Tyler Day
Cherif Abdallah
Johann Rabie
Ben Youcef Abdalla
Rafiki Uwimana
Luis Enrique Lemus Davila
Comments:
This is a race on our home continent, so we hope to do well here. We brought 2 cards to play, in Abdallah and Day as they are both capable of top 10 performances. Ben Youcef Abdalla, Rabie and Uwimana are here to offer valuable support to our fast men. Ngue is also an interesting addition, perhaps if he formed part of the breakaway.
Tour de Kumano
Squad:
Ngock Yves Ngue
Tyler Day
Ben Youcef Abdalla
Heiko Redecker
Luis Enrique Lemus Davila
Christian Mager
JC Nel
Comments:
We have a decent squad here. Tyler and/or Ben Youcef can collect some points here. Maybe Ngock can score as well, with a bit of luck of course. All in all, not any real expectations, so any decent result is welcomed.
That's quite a strong squad for Romania, considering there are 9 race days. I decided to send Ndbri and Schinker though, so the same could be said about my team.
I wish you good luck, your team is secretly one of my favorites even if you are my biggest rival
@froomedog We hope to get some decent results in Romania
Also, I must admit. I made some bad choices and amateur mistakes regarding my squad and race schedule, but oh well, if all turns out as planned, I'll have a solid squad next year...
@miguel Yea, too many pictures from my part See you in Norway
Firstly, we're very happy with the result! We would've been satisfied with a top 10, but we ended up almost winning the race! Abdallah out-smarted many of the bigger names by starting his sprint early and almost caught Dall'Antonia, who was the smartest on the day. This is how the final kilometres played out:
Dal'Antonia surprised everyone by attacking with about 12km to go. He quickly managed to pry open a big gap on the bunch.
Abdallah starts his sprint early in an attempt to catch Dal'Antonia.
Close, but no cigar. Dal'Antonia takes a big win for Mobil
Nonetheless, we are delighted with Abdallah's performance. The 2 top men surprised most of the favourites today who were forced to fight for the scraps.
Tour of South Africa [HC]
Thomas Rohregger 
Yasmani Martinez 
Dimitri Jiriakov 
Julian Rodas 
Alexey Lutsenko 
Craig Lewis 
Luis Enrique Lemus Davila 
. Didn't saw that file at all. Thanks cio.
See you in Norway 
