Third Overall, Tour of Reunion.
Before I start. Massive thanks to Nic White and Eugene Beck for making this tour possible. It might seem bizarre headlining this but it's not something that's taken for granted as a South African team. The markets are tougher than ever and sponsors going out of their way to give their riders international exposure nowadays are uncommon.
For those interested in sharpening up on their knowledge. Reunion Island isn't a country on its own but a province of France- situated between Madagascar and Mauritius. The Tour of Reunion consisted of nine stages, including a Team Prologue on a Track. The prologue started in the afternoon with most of the smaller teams starting off first. We had good benchmarks observing these teams which made it easier to judge our efforts. We eventually won the prologue by a mere second over Vendee U and Saint-Marie Velo Club rounding off the podium.
Stage 1 turned out to be more dramatic than expected. An angry father, upset by his sons crash, felt that the race should have been neutralized. In the final sprint he dragged the race barriers over road causing a huge crash and the loss of our Team Captain, Bradley Potgieter. For those that havent seen it yet, click on the link below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukLonjBIPOI
The following day consisted out of two stages, stage 2 & 3. Stage 2 was a short Individual time trial (ITT) of 10 Km. I had good legs and managed to set the fastest time of 11 min 38 sec. Rohan Du Plooy finished in second place 12 min 15 sec and James Tennent 3rd in 12min26. Kent Main had a solid TT coming in 4th considering he was not riding a time trial bike. After the ITT the yellow jersey moved over from Clint Hendricks to myself, which is no hassle as long as it stays in the team.
Stage 3 was always going to be a tough one finishing up a 25 km cat1 climb. Clint did most of the work keeping things in check the first 50 km to the foot of the climb. Mornay van Heerden feeling all fresh and all that funny stuff had a big smile on his face as we entered his territory. He set a blistering pace making it very difficult for any rider to attack. Near the end Florent Casterllarnau slipped away joining riders of the early break. He won the stage in fashion and moved into yellow. by 21 seconds ahead me. Kent Main was also looking strong still 5th on GC.
Stage 4 was a longer Team Time Trial. Everyone in the Team has a pedigree to ride time trials well. So we had the confidence but with bigger Teams like Vendee U in the mix we had no idea what to expect. To our surprise we took stage honors with a winning time of 28 min 39 sec over Vendee U (29 min 33 sec). But most importantly we made time up on the yellow jersey team and their leader Florent Casterllanau which is well know for his climbing abilities.
Stage 5 was much easier as expected. Yes, the start was crazy and there were times I thought if they go now its over. Especially when you only four guys in a team having to control a 9 day Tour. But by letting a Vendee U rider in the break we negotiated as only South Africans can, and the storm calmed. Clint and Mornay controlled all the way to the final cat 2 climb of the day. I had a small crash on the descend but nothing to worry about. Kent Main took up responsibilities looking after me from there. We arrived safely in the bunch with no time lost. Job done. Morgon Lammoison, Vendee U who was in the break all day won the stage.
Stage 6 featured one of the biggest climbs in the Tour so far. The Tour was never going to be won on this day, but could definitely be lost. Clint and Mornay once again had a big day controlling the race before the showdown on the final climb. It was definitely much easier controlling on this day, as it was much more hilly in the start. Full-gas up, freewheel down. The break went quite early but no GC threats up the road.
On the final cat1 climb of the day things heated up quite quickly. I produced my peak 5 min power of the Tour- just to stay in contention. Kent Main rode back the dangerous attacks on the climb, while staying out of danger. At the top of the climb we decided to keep the pace up pushing hard, even though some riders were just sitting on. If we did not continue, we risked many riders rejoining and putting us under pressure near the finish.
Kent controlled the final 10 km with a very select group intact. A stage win would have been nice but to be honest I never really had the legs. Fatigue from having such a busy season so far...?Possible. But I also never fully recovered from a sinus infection which I picked up at Tour of Mauritius. We managed to keep the yellow jersey though, and through great team work came second on the stage. Still a bonus I guess. The stage was won by Vendee U's Axel Journiaux.
Stage 7 hosted the queen stage. From the start we where under quite a lot of pressure. Mornay and Clint had loads of work to cover everything and the previous days fatigue was catching up with them. Many french teams collaborated- working together- to put us under pressure. After 20 km into the stage myself and Kent where isolated. Things weren't looking good and to be honest my legs was burning a shit load. And by now I was nursing a fever from the previous night. Kent was looking good so we covered as much as possible. Halfway into the stage Kent crashed heavily and I was isolated. I had to let something go as covering everything would be utterly stupid and above my ability. Kent eventually rejoined and did what he could to limit our losses. We ended up losing yellow by 41 seconds.
Stage 8 was fairly flat but featured the Tours most difficult mountain top finish being out of categorized. The break got 8 minutes as there was no GC threat. I knew that it was going to be difficult to make up 41 seconds on Axel on that specific climb and that while fighting a chest infection didn't make it any easier. Clint looked well after me on the early slopes of the climb as Kent had a chance to ride for himself. Unfortunately the break survived so it was to no avail. But none the less a great display from the youngster. The stage was won out of the break by Jean Denis Armand a local from Reunion.
Stage 9 featured a short criterium around town. The route didn't really present any opportunities to make up time. Not that I cared. I was content in riding through the fever and settle with a podium spot at the end of the day. Teammate Clint Hendricks had a cracker of a day. Coming into the final sprint he might have lacked a bit of top end speed due to all the work he did for the team throughout the Tour. But in my opinion still did well to finish second on the stage.
Massive thanks to my Team mates for making yet another podium possible. It was difficult losing our team captain early on but we pulled through. Also for Stuart grafting so hard making sure everyone's bikes, bottles and nerves where sorted ;)
