Volta a Portugal has come and gone. It was probably the hardest race Iʼve done so far in my life. Definitely the longest, 12 stages, starting in Lisbon and finishing in Viseu 1600km later. It all started with a crazy 5km TTT which consisted of 5x1km laps with rough cobblestones and sharp corners. Going for the stage win while not losing time with your GC riders was almost impossible as it was such a explosive sprint and brake course. While the front 2-3 riders accelerated out of the corner the 6 riders behind were still braking or cornering and then having to sprint even more to get back on the wheel. Sooner or later that elastic effect snaps and we saw that with a lot of the teams before us. The time was taken on the 3rd rider crossing the line. We decided to ride at the front with 4 riders (Jaco, Ignas, Gerald and Jay) and with Sergio sitting tight at 5th. All we wanted was to not lose time with Sergio to other GC contenders. The rest of us at the back who didnʼt have a roll on GC just had to hang on as long as possible and get to the line. We finished 7th, 7 seconds down, and with 7 riders together. We were one of the only teams to finish with 7 riders, most finishing with only 3, meaning we had Sergio sitting top 25 on GC going into stage 1 only 7sec down. Stage 1 was the longest of the tour, 203km, into a solid headwind. With no teams wanting to waste energy already on stage 1 and the team with the yellow jersey not taking control it made for a very boring stage. We barely covered 90km in the first 3hrs. Myself and Fre started controlling with Caja Rural at the front to set it up for Gerald who eventually after more than 6hrs finished 4th. The finishing circuit was chaos with roundabouts and road furniture everywhere and Gerald lost 2 of his lead out men, Martin and Jaco, as they went the wrong way through a roundabout 5km to go. Our main goal was still reached, Sergio finished top 20 and didnʼt lose time. The highlight of the tour came on stage 4 when Sergio WON the mountain top finish. We were rewarded for ʻholding backʼ in the prologe making sure he goes as fast as possible, as this made him the new leader of the tour having been ahead of all the other GC contenders in the TTT. Myself, Jaco, Gerald, Jay and Martin were still on the finishing climb in the grupetto when we heard our 2nd race car going nuts behind us yelling we WON!! During this whole tour our whole team rode as such a tightly knit unit, like the corny saying ʻAll for one and one for allʼ which made that victory special for all of us. With this tour being so hard in all aspects, from the route profiles to extreme weather conditions to an incredibly strong peloton, each of us had to give 100% and sacrifice all personal ambitions so that our team goal can be reach. And thereʼs something about suffering together in the extremes and seeing the result of hard work and sacrifice that brings a team closer together and makes it even stronger. Over the next few stages we rode our as$%^s off to defend and keep that yellow jersey. It was my first time riding at the front of the peloton in defense of yellow and it taught me a lot. If it wasnʼt for the experienced riders on the team I would definitely not have made it through the tour. Usually when a race starts something happens in my brain which makes me lose all common sense and just start following every attack until eventually I drop dead. This would be suicidal in a 12 stage tour, temperatures above 40 deg every day and thousands of meters to be climbed. I was the youngest on the team and with the least experience. I would like to thank the team for taking care of me like they did. They all wanted me to make it through the tour without burning myself out halfway. If they saw I was I starting to suffer too much while pulling at the front they aloud me to, in Ignasʼs words, ʻgo and relax at the backʼ (Haha). The worst moment of the tour was riding past the scene where Dennis crashed out on stage 7, about 8km to go. He went into a corner too fast and started losing his back wheel, tried to straighten up, but slammed face first into the mountain wall. He fractured two vertebrae and was out of the tour and the rest of the season. As I mentioned before our team grew so close together that his crash hurt us all. Seeing your teammate laying in the gutter in pain is one of the worst feelings. He is now safely back in South Africa starting with his recovery and we hope to have him back as soon as possible. We had the most incredible staff taking care of us this tour. We were 9 riders with 10 staff members there for us! From the best bus driver Francesco to two mechanics, Casper and Daniele. Three soignuers: Basti, Hagen and Raul (Raul sacrificed his dinner more than onces to make sure he massages me, Jaco and Fre properly. With long transfers and traffic we sometimes got to the hotel at 8-9pm. I remember getting off the massage table past 10:30pm a couple of times as he refused to massage for shorter than 45mins). Our team Doc Jarrad who literally saved my ass and kept us healthy. Dr Rob Child who took care of our recovery. Trevor keeping an eye on our SRM data and DS Jens steering the ship. We were given everything we need to perform at our best. Thank you for taking for taking such great care of us! We did not win the tour, unfortunately. Stage 8 was our biggest obstacle with 4100m of climbing in 160km and it was the day Sergio did not have the best legs. One rider fighting against 8 Efapel Kawasakiʼs is a losing battle. I was on the limit from km 0. Hanging on for dear life at the back of the peloton until we struck the first cat 1 and fighting in the grupetto for the next 100kms. Even though youʼre in the grupetto, if you get dropped after 66km with 50kms of climbing ahead and a time limit you still have to ride pretty hard. Stage 9 was a 35km ITT which obviously, being Portugal, had a lot of climbing. Most of us rode just to get through while Jaco flew to finish 12th! We tried our best for a sprint stage victory on the final stage. But with the heat and fatigue taking its toll Gerald managed 4th again. My legs were so dead I couldnʼt even get to the front on the final circuit. We had big success and a big down fall during the tour, but I think as a first year Pro Continental team we showed what we capable of. I gained tons of much needed experience especially leading up to the final of the season with important races to come. This weekend I race my biggest ranked race yet, World Tour Vattenval Classic in Hamburg, followed by World Ports in Holland next weekend. All in prep for the Worlds TTT on the 22nd of September here in Italy. @vanSnail
Posted on: Wed, 21 Aug 2013 10:15:58 +0000
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