Sean Marsh, Mike ”Brontolo” Andrews, Dan Owens, Bryan”Buggalugs” Gale and the enigmatic Wally Bodin travelled up to the 2010 Midvaal Vets Tour at the Boswell Wilkie Circus Farm, Daleside on the 7, 8 and 9 August.
A 4 Stage Race over 3 days. An 8km Time Trial on Saturday followed by a 70km road stage the same afternoon. Sunday would be the Queen stage – a 130km undulating stage with a LOT of crosswinds and finally on Monday – a criterium of 60mins plus one lap
See the report & gallery from our KZN Club members...
Stage 1: TT. (by Dan)
The Tour started with an 8km TT. The route was undulating and slightly downhill overall. Although it was freezing, after a good 20min warm up on the turbo’s we were all dripping wet! Unfortunately there was a brisk head crosswind. This made for a few exciting weaves with the disc wheels. With a lot of encouragement and motivation from our manager Wally we entered the start house. Dan placed best of the Durban contingent, coming 9th with an average speed of around 47kph for 8km. Mike, Bryan and Sean followed shortly thereafter. Following this, we decided to see if we could finish with a top ten placing overall, which would be quite tough as the best guys in our category from all over SA were there.
Tour Stage 2: 70 KM. (by Mike)
In tour racing when it is a shorter stage you can count on it being difficult. This stage was no different at only 66 km and quite flat the crosswinds and pace would make the racing. At 18 km out we had the first hot spot with sprinters points and time bonuses up for grabs. Mike went in all the attacks from about 3 kms out hoping to be in the break that contested this hot spot unfortunately the peloton were having none of this and 3 attacks were brought back to heel. Eventually the final individual break was snuffed out and the pack galloped over the line, Didata’ s Stef Maddies taking first blood. Things settled down until the 30 km mark when we turned into a strong afternoon gutter wind or side wind blowing from left to right. This played havoc with the pack with everyone trying to hide from the wind. At the 38.5 Km mark the first KOM point came up for grabs, where Dan our best placed GC rider put in a great effort but was jumped in the last meters and took 4th .
For the next 20 km the gutter wind was howling and cracks were beginning to show, things were so bad that Sean Mash was twice forced off the road and onto the loose gravel at 45ks an hour, showing great bike skills Sean bunny hopped back into the peloton and did not even miss a position. Mike paid for his early hot spot effort and was one of the casualties, Bryan Gale saw he was in difficulty and staid back to help him. What a team mate.
The last 10 ks was a tailwind and the pace was on, with 1km to go Dan Owens and Gary Beneke from Didata jumped and got a 10 second gap they held this to within 100m of the line but with bonus seconds on offer the main GC contenders Bruce Diesel Cyclelab JHB and Stefano Maddies of Didata needed those seconds to secure yellow. Steffano winning the stage in 1.38:38 with Bruce taking second and holding onto yellow by 4 seconds.
Stage 4: Criterium 1 hour + 1 lap (by Sean)
We awoke on the final morning of the tour to the sound of a howling gale outside and, for a change, it wasn't Bryan. Bags were packed and loaded in the trailer and a 30 minute drive had us arriving at the race venue - Midvaal International Raceway. A rather interesting name for a rundown motor racing circuit in the middle of nowhere.
The wind was bitterly cold and warming up on the bike seemed to have the opposite effect. We knew there was going to be an almighty battle out there as Stefano Madies from Di-Data and Bruce Diesel from Cycle Lab Jhb were even time on GC with Stefano wearing the yellow jersey by virtue of winning 2 stages.
As expected, the racing was frenetic from the start with Cycle Lab throwing everything they had at Di-Data from start to finish. Gary Beneke, defending Stefano's yellow jersey, was controlling the race and chasing any move that tried to get off the front. Mike Andrews tried valiantly to escape and claim the glory a few times but it wasn't to be. Our primary objective, however, was to secure Dan's top 10 placing which was achieved. There were hopes that Sean would also have a go at winning the stage but the pressure from the guys contesting GC negated this.
The stage was eventually won by Gary Beneke after covering a small move 2 laps from the end and then sprinting clear for the win.
Well done to Dan for finishing 10th and to the guys from Di-Data who successfully defended the yellow jersey.
Gallery
