World B Championships
World Championships
Krakow is the host city for this year’s MG World Championships. A cobbled course lays ahead for the riders of the peleton, and it looks like it will be a war of attrition and only the strongest will be left at the end.
The lesser nations for the World B Championships means that we could have a very open race ahead of us the week of racing in Poland.
Lahcen Saber and
Eugert Zhupa a clear favourite for the Blue Rainbow Jersey, but I wouldn’t count out the likes of
Ermin Van Wyk,
Gediminas Bagdonas and
Marc Potts. Hell, you can’t even ignore the Gabonese team with
Geoffroy Ngamdamba and
Amadou Bakari in their ranks. Exciting racing lay ahead!
On the first cobbled section of the day, we had our first break away attempt with
Abdoulaye Rouamba and
Hendrik Kruger accelerating away from the peleton.
Risto Aaltio and
Jose Francisco Irias would later join the initial pair off the front of the main group, and with that our day’s escape group was born. Defending champion
Thomas Lokvist would try and join the break, but 5 riders was deemed too dangerous by the favourites.
Namibia,
Gabon and
Morocco set themselves up on the front of the peleton, allowing the lead group around 5 minutes of freedom up the road.
Over the final section of pave on the first circuit, and the break’s lead was around 7’02” with still more than 150km remaining.
The loop back into the centre of Krakow gave us our first opportunity to see the big 13% cobbled climb that the riders would have to tackle a total of four times. This could where you see a lot of action come later in the day…
Did I say later in the day, I should have said now… Over the top of the climb, the time to the break was down to under 5 minutes, and the peleton was in pieces. Just 54 riders made up the main group (all favourites present and correct) whilst a much larger group of 113 riders were distanced off the back.
Namibia,
Burkina Faso (strangely with Rouamba in the break) and
Morocco continued to set a high pace at the front of the peleton, with
Albania helping every so often to stop the African teams hogging all the limelight on TV.
The circuit in Krakow was brutal, and the break’s time was melting away in front of their eyes. 60km to go, and there was less than 2 minutes between them and the peleton. The pack behind had swelled back to around 100 riders, but with the pave section laying ahead, it wouldn’t all together for much longer.
Zhupa would be the first to test the patience of the favourites, as the main group blasted through the city walls. Again, it was time to lose groups off the back of the main group, however, we would see some casualties and some favourites looking contact.
Missing the split, we had
Van Zyl,
Houle,
Naud and
Kruopis as well as many 2nd tier riders. Up front, there was still the likes of
Zhupa,
Saber,
Potts,
Bagdonas and
Bakari.
The break was caught soon after the acceleration of
Zhupa, forming a group of 23 riders off the front. They had around 45” advantage over the
Van Zyl /
Naud group behind with the rest of the peleton in tatters behind them.
Canada, clearly disappointed at missing the split, was doing all they could to bring it back together, but
Houle was in a strange domestique role. Definitely feeling strong today, he really had to limit his efforts in aid of
Naud and was never given much of a leash by his team.
Houle did all he could to bring them group back together before the next cobbled section, and that was his day done. To make it worse, as soon the cobbles appeared again, we were back in the same situation as before. The same riders split of the back, and this time no
Houle to bring it all back…
Zhupa continued to be the pace setter in the lead group, and questions began to be raised on whether he was putting his own chances of winning at stake.
Potts sat close to the front with
English for company for
Ireland, with a trio of
Moroccan behind working hard for
Saber. After Morocco,
Gabon was the other team with the majority of domestiques still in the group for
Ngamdamba and
Bakari, whilst everyone else had to look after themselves.
ATTACK ZHUPA! The
Albanian really does not want this to go the finish with the likes of
Saber in tow, and he makes a move with 20km remaining.
Oumaru Minoungou is the only rider who is able to stick with him, whilst
Bakari is chasing for Gabon behind.
Everything comes back together, but the acceleration was enough to remove
Clenne Morvan Moulingui and
Tesfay Abraha from the lead group. Down to just 13 riders in the lead group now.
The pace was now relentless, and it turned out to be too much
Van Wyk! Over the last climb of the day, and the big favourite for the race is off the back and it is all over the Namibian. In the distance behind him, we can see
Nur Amirul Marzuki doing all he can to try and get back on.
With the run-in to the line being flat from here on in, it was really favouring the likes of
Saber. He had the pace over the rest in a sprint, and it was clear that the others knew this.
Gabon continued to roll through on the front, with
Zhupa not too far away and still strangely doing turns. Less than 10km to go and we had 11 riders setting themselves up to contest the finish.
ATTACK SABER! The last person we expected right now was
Saber making an acceleration. He senses a lull in the pace, and suddenly the Moroccan has a gap of 10” that continues to grow.
Bakari is the man to help give chase for his team yet again, but he is doing nothing to close the gap. 3km remaining and it is looking like
Saber’s to lose.
VICTORY MOROCCO! I said there was no catching
Saber, and I was correct. The Blue Rainbow Jersey is all his for the next 12 months, and he had earned his country a place in the World A Championships.
Marc Potts takes second for Ireland with a late attack on the uphill climb to the finish, crossing the line 15” after Saber and with a small gap to those behind.
The podium is rounded off by
Eugert Zhupa for Albania, whilst
Geoffroy Ngamdamba just misses out in for 4th for Gabon ahead of Lithuania’s
Gediminas Bagdonas.
Bukina Faso’s
Oumaru Minoungou is 6th, ahead of
Amadou Bakari and
Olli Kulppi of Finland in 7th and 8th respectively. A third rider in the Top 10 for Gabon, as
Paul Junior Maroga takes 9th place and Morocco’s
Zouhair Rahil rounds out that Top 10.
Only 81 riders will finish the race, as many riders end the day outside of the time limit. We said it would be race of attrition, and I think we certainly saw that today. What a start to the Worlds!
