ITT 26.2km - 27 August 2006

Whew ...

No Hiding. You have to pull your own weight. No sucking wheel to win by others strength. That is why this is called THE RACE OF TRUTH – The Individual Time Trial.

Hello everybody and welcome to the race report for the final Time Trial. A full 26.2km of open road had itself ready for some very impressive times. Nine very brave cyclists accepted the challenge and rose early to meet at 06:30 in the morning for a 40 minute warm up to the start line. The SSW wind blew at an average of 14km/hr.

Race ref Messias Langa launched the riders at two minute intervals. Webmaster Bill Osborne could not join in the fun due to a mechanical problem with his bike, but nevertheless he came along with his camera and kept it rolling.

Newcomer Daniel couldn’t have picked a better challenge to make his debut. Clocking in a credible 00:53:15 on his very first event. At least he got to see what time trialling was all about as the stronger riders passed him. Well, you’ve got to start somewhere and it certainly can’t be from the top.

Time Trialling is all about aerodynamics and Rui most certainly gave us a lesson in slicing through the air. He came in with an avg. speed of 35km/hr in 00:44:55. A huge improvement on his ITT compared to his season opener..

David put in a time of 00:44:24 averaging 35.41km/hr. Not really the David we know. Winner of the Maputo Elimination race. David takes 5^th place in the Time Trial GC. He had put in a slightly faster avg. in the season opening time trial.

6^th place went to Vicente in 00:44:18 with a 35.49km/hr avg. speed, showing an impressive improvement in his time trialling since his first ITT back in February.

Betinho’s first ITT in the league was truly impressive. At 36.22km/hr, it kind of silences the critics at a time of 00:43:24. We got a tiny glimpse of what we could be faced with next season from this youngster.

Imran managed to do just enough to hold on to 1^st place on the TT G.C. after his 4^th place on the final TT coming in at 36.74km/hr in 00:42:47.

James Leggatt was a hot favourite for the win, unfortunately he had to settle for third and falls from 2^nd to 3^rd on the TT G.C. clocking 00:42:39 at 36.86km/hr. James still holds the record for the fastest ITT lap of the Mozal loop at 37.75km/hr 00:32:54 set on December 18, 2004. The closest on that very same day was Tim Fair, but he was off by 00:01:04 but that was back in 2004.

Duncan’s first ITT in the league sped him into 2^nd on the day, pushing him into 4^th on the TT G.C. at 37.24km/hr 00:42:13. Along with Zeca they were the only ones to break the 37km/hr avg.

Alvaro Jose Alves – Zeca. Was the only one to beat the 42min clock. Zeca came in well prepared and determined to win the day. This has been one of his many fine performances and a huge improvement in his time trialling. At 37.59km/hr he took the win in 00:41:49. The win catapulted him into 2^nd position on the TT G.C. standing. Next year he will most certainly be looking to going one better. 

Just about everyone improved on his time trialling. The times were quite close for a 26.2 km route. Especially when comparing them to the season opening ITT. Even newcomer Daniel in his first ever race showed more gumption than some old timers on the season opening ITT.

See you at the next event on the 17^th of September 2006. And remember, no miracle will get this sport off the ground, but your participation most certainly will.