After three days and four stages of freezing cold mornings, hard racing and suffering we lined up for the 5th and final stage of the Mid Vaal Vets Tour. Andrew Reeves and Sean Merredew were the highest placed Mr Price team members on the overall GC, with Andrew being 1 minute and 26 seconds behind the yellow jersey rider, Julius Cobbett, from Cycle Nation. There were only five riders left who was in actual contention for the tour win, that being Julius Cobbett (Cycle Nation 7:00:15), Jimmy le Roux (7:00:27), Craig Harvey (7:00:56), Andrew (Mr Price 7:01:40) and Sean (Mr Price 07:02:31). The next best rider on GC was almost 10 minutes behind which would be an impossible task to get to the yellow jersey. Mr Price was on the back-foot, but we sure as hell were going to fight for it!
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The race started with an easy cruise with a lot of chitchat as if nobody was actually in the mood to race hard. After probably almost 10km of this, Andrew decided that was enough of the snail speed ride and went to the front upping the pace. Gwyn Pine (Mr Price) took over from him and the racing was on. It was a flat course and the bunch pretty much stayed together with Mr Price and Cycle Nation controlling the front of the race. We were heading for the Hotspot at 30km and you could feel the vibe in the group change for those important points. Sean pulled off next to the road and I assumed it was a mechanical or puncture (Only later we found out it was a mechanical of a different sort). The sprint for the line was on and Julius took it with Andrew in second. Jorge Faria (Cycle Nation) attacked just after the Hotspot as we turned right on the R42. I rode across to him and we rolled through to create the first break of the day. At some stage we were a minute up the road, but the bunch reigned us in near the 50km mark and the KOM was just ahead. I was glad to see Sean is back in the bunch. Sean gave Andrew a great lead out for the KOM, but Julius was greedy (Like another Julius I’ve read about) and outsprinted Andrew for the Polka Dot points. The bunch stayed together until we turned right onto Karee Road. Sean came up next to me and told me we need to start attacking to try and split the bunch up. Andrew put in an attack, got caught and then Sean attacked. When Sean got caught Andrew attacked again with Craig Harvey (Cycle Nation) on his wheel but for some reason Craig was not keen to roll through. As they got caught I found some energy and launched an attack. My companion from the earlier break, Jorge Faria, followed with Pieter Swemmer (Cyclelab) on his wheel. The three of us rolled through and opened a gap. I was feeling pretty good, but I wasn’t sure this break was supposed to work. In the last 4km I decided to slow the break down and stopped rolling through. If we got caught, Andrew and Sean would be there to finish the race off. If we did not get caught, I was hoping to have the fresher legs in the trio.
Meanwhile, Gwyn and Werner had orders to chase the break down. We got caught with just over a kilometre left and the sprint was on. Unfortunately Sean got boxed in and had to start his sprint early. He overtook Julius, but Julius had another kick for the line. Julius won the stage and tour for Cycle Nation, with the Mr Price boys, Sean and Andrew rolling over the line in 2nd and 3rd.
The Mr Price team did not win the tour, but we never stopped fighting and came back home with two yellow jerseys, two stage wins, two second places, one third and plenty of Spar Vouchers for our team piggy bank!
Photos by www.cyclenation.co.za
The tour had gone well up to this point and after loosing the yellow jersey to Cycle Nations Julies Cobbet on the Mornings Stage we now had the TT on a flat route but with tired legs the chances of taking time back was good.
Andrew Reeves was our best placed rider on Gc and next was Sean Merredew, the times where a little slower on the day after the mornings stage of 90km ,Gwyn pine was the best placed rider in the TT also winning the stage for the Team, then Sean Merredew ,Andrew Reeves, Werner Venter, Emile Fouche.
Good Riding by the Team on The TT which is always a hard race against the clock, it was sad that Andrew Reeves saddle moved down on the TT making it not possible to pull back some time which was seconds at the end for a podium position.
Well done for the good effort Mr. Price Team we will be back
Editors Note: Gwyn was very modist in saying he won the TT. I would like to add that he not only won the TT in the 30-39 category (as a 40+ year old), but did the best time overall! Well Done Gwyn!
Photos by www.cyclenation.co.za
Stage 3 of the 2011 Midvaal Tour started out as very cold and windy Saturday morning, June 18th. The 30+ race started at 9 am with our team mate Andrew Reeves in yellow after 2 stages with a slender lead of 6 seconds over Julius Cobbet (Cyclenation). The day’s stage saw us doing 3 laps of 30km each with hotspots at the start/finish of each lap with time bonuses awarded at each hotspot. We knew that we would have to get Andrew to the line to try and take the hotspots or prevent Cyclenation from claiming the hotspots.
From the gun we worked hard with Gwyn Pine, Emile Fouche, Mike Viljoen and myself(all Mr Price) pacing at the front. As we approached the first hotspot, all the main contenders kicked and opened a gap on the main peleton.Unfortunately for our team, only Sean Merredew and Andrew Reeves were in the break with Craig Harvey , Julius Cobbet(Cyclenation) and Jimmy le Roux.
Once the break went we were happy to sit up and not chase the break-in hindsight probably a bad decision as we left our two main contenders to fend for themselves-a decision that ultimately cost us the yellow jersey.
Up front the racing was very hard. Eventually Jimmy le Roux and Julius Cobbet broke away and rode to the finish where Jimmy won the stage. Sean and Andrew had to work very hard to chase the two riders down, but with no help from Craig Harvey, they spent themselves and with 1 km to go, Craig kicked and opened up a gap on Sean and Andrew to which they could not respond. Craig went on to take third place. Sean and Andrew came across the line in 4th and 5th place.
Gwyn, Emile and myself rolled in a few minutes back with the main peloton.
A very disappointing day for our team to loose the yellow jersey, but valuable lessons was learned.
Photos by www.cyclenation.co.za
Stage 2 - Friday 17 June - of the Midvaal Vets Tour was staged at the Midvaal race track. A crit stage of 1hr15 min plus one lap - enough to scare anybody into a coma – especially after the previous day’s excursion in the howling wind.
What was annoyingly becoming evident was the fact that:
1. The wind was going to pump - all day
2. It was dang cold!!!
So at 9am with the wind at a steady 50km/h at a comfy 5 degrees, we arrived to start our battle. We had already figured that our main competition for the day would be hard at us from the gun to try and wrestle the yellow jersey from the shoulders of our man, Andrew Reeves. Try as they did, we brought it back and made it a hard day of racing.
With two major teams going at each other, it opened the door to the few strong individuals to play off this. The result was a really exciting stage. From the gun the pace was hot so Gwyn Pine set off up the road on a solo attack. Left on his own he raced off to a sizable lead which remained unchallenged for a few laps. It soon became evident to the others that this man of legendary time trial skill was getting away and the screws were tightened. A few flat out laps followed and Gwyn was eventually pulled back into the bunch. As soon as the pack was together (groupo compacto for those that followed on twitter!), the counter attacks followed from a very active Cycle Nation.
Anthony Field-Buss (Cycle Nation) was the next to make a telling attack. The name of the game for us was to follow and sit, defend what we had and follow moves. Yours truly chased Anthony and we made a getaway. Unfortunately Anthony had ideas other than the logical “work together to get away” and attacked me a lap into our get away. Riding away at a furious pace i decided that fighting a 2 man battle was silly and slowly lost the wheel. After 3 or 4 laps i made my way back to the bunch led superbly by a snarling Emile, seeing that I was losing interest fast. After recovering we all hit the front and hunted Anthony down. It did not take us long to reel him in which again led to furious counter attacks.
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Luckily for us we were all on point. Sean and Werner were the next to weather the attacks as they came one after another. Riding on this track was extremely difficult. Hitting a wall of frigid air after a long back straight broke many attempts at getaways. It did not however stop guys from trying.
The remaining 20 minutes was a furious affair with many flyers going off the front. The back straight became a hunting ground for attacks and counters and we were all kept busy chasing and chasing.
The bell rung for the final lap and all hell broke loose. The back straight was again the scene for deadly moves which we gamely covered. Unfortunately we were so attentive to Cycle Nation that we left the door wide open for Jimmy le Roux who attacked into the wind off the final s- bends. He was able to open a sizable gap and held that through to the end. Coming into the last corner we managed a small lead out for Sean and Andrew.
Sean managed to annihilate the field running close to the pit lane for a second with Anthony Field-Buss in third.
The result was that we kept the yellow and brought Sean up higher in the points standing. It was a tough, but exciting day at the track. A well fought team effort.
Photos by www.cyclenation.co.za
The first day of the Vets tour arrived and it was a cold but not freezing morning. We had 120km stage on the Thursday along a flat route with a few rolling hills.
The start was at 9am and the wind was blowing hard already. Our 30+ bunch had 27 riders and there were teams from Cycle Nation, Cyclelab, Panda and a few others.
The start was steady until after 3km the Cycle Nation guys started attacking, this was a sign of things to come. I got away with 2 Cycle Nation riders at this point but the bunch was still fresh and pulled us back after a few kms in the lead.
At the 1st KOM sprint at 15kms Jimmy le Roux attacked early and got away alone to take the points, Anthony Field-Buss from Cycle nation sprinted for second spot and I came 3rd, when we looked back we were away so we kept going until we caught Jimmy. The 3 of us were working well together for about 10kms but then I flatted. I received a wheel from a following car and jumped into the bunch as they passed.
Now Mr Price had to chase because we had nobody in the break. Sean spoke to the team and they hit the front and started a hard chase.
In the gutter winds this made things very hard and the bunch started to splinter.
After a 20km chase with Gwyn and Sean pulling hard on the front most of the way, we managed to bring the 2 escapees back.
After we turned left there were some more attacks and I found myself in the break again, but after a few kms a flurry of attacks behind saw the group catch us, but now there was far less riders.
Coming into the last 20km there were 7 riders up front, 3 Cycle Nation, 1 Cyclelab rider, Sean and Myself from Mr Price and Jimmy. We worked well together until at 12km to go Julius Cobbett attacked and I went after him. I worked with him to get away but soon his teammate Craig Harvey rode across to us. I was now worried with the 2 on 1 scenario, and tried to sit on, but Craig would just sit up and let Julius ride away when I did so I rolled through but saved as much energy as I could.
Coming up to the line I was expecting Craig to attack but he never did, so it came to a sprint. Craig led it out and I got behind Julius, but I was surprised when Julius started his sprint early at 400m to go. I followed Julius and came over him with 100m to go to take the stage.
Sean out sprinted the rest of the break to get 4th on the stage.
