We have already covered 639.4km of racing so far this year. We have most certainly come a long way.

Before I go on any further. I would like to thank a few people who went a bit beyond what their form and body would expect of them for this tough race.

Michelle and Kevin. Both of them plagued with the flu for quite sometime now, but nevertheless, they voted on the route, came to the pick up area downtown at 6:30 a.m. and started with the group, but making it clear that they were in no condition to complete the race. Together with Richard they did the loop without going into the climb.

Rui Ferreira. Clearly this was a bit too difficult a stage for the kind of form he took with him to the race. But he was there to start and go as far as he could. This is the first time he sky rocketed up Goba.

I am beyond words and full of praise. THANK YOU.

14 fearless riders were up and early for the Goba Classic this past Sunday. A race that began at Pequenos Libombos and ended up in Goba for stage one and rushed back down to Pequenos Libombos for the end of stage two.

Colette gave the official start as the bunch rode at a reasonably slow pace for the first 10km neutral zone that ended up at the Pedreira climb. After that the race was on. An early break by Vicente was not chased down by the bunch which rode at an acceptable pace until about 2km before the first Hot Spot at about +-22km into the race.

Hot Spot one, Vicente (on his own), Werner, Alvaro (Zeca), Carlos, Imran and Grichone respectively crossed the Hot Spot line. A chase began. The next Bonus spot was 5 km into the Goba climb. Vicente was caught about 3km into the climb. He had ridden alone for about 33km. The group was now composed of Zeca, Werner, Carlos and Grichone. Imran was dropped at the foot of the climb.

KOM one, Zeca, Werner, Carlos, Grichone, Imran. Stage one and KOM two results were as follows, Zeca, Werner, Carlos, Grichone, Imran, Vicente, Jorge, Betinho, Ernst, Abilio, Bill and Rui.

During the brief pause at the top we refuelled and began to get ready for the descend, (contrary to what some of us believe, there are some races in Europe ridden by the pros that are divided in two stages and ridden on the same day) a full 10km descend was taken very carefully by the riders as it was made quite clear that racing officially began at the foot of the climb when the bunch was together.

The Bunch was faced with quite a strong head wind that forced everyone to slip on to the small chain ring. After about 22km Werner got away on a small incline taking Ernst with him. After 25 km of riding it was quite clear that the break was not slowing down and that something needed to be done to reel them in. Zeca and Imran increased the pace, driving a small group of 4 riders to chase them down.

Hot Spot 2, Werner, Ernst, Zeca, Carlos Grichone and Imran. The chase group broke up. Zeca pulled away while Carlos hung on to his wheel. Grichone and Imran were both separated. After a lengthy chase of about 10km Imran caught and rode with Grichone for about 1km before leaving him behind on the Pedreira.

Zeca and Carlos chased the two leaders and managed to catch them. These boys sorted themselves out before the finish line as Zeca was the first to take his chances on Wener, then Carlos had a go. The pecking order was set. But Werner had now sent a clear message that he was back.

Stage two final Zeca, Carlos, Werner, Ernst, Imran, Grichone, Bill, Jorge and Abilio respectively.

This was the first time Abilio took part in the league and amazingly he completed the 100km race. Vicente, Betinho and Rui decided to call it quits and jump in the backup vehicle.

A very big thank you to Colette and Messias for helping with the marshalling. We are putting dreams on paper and you are helping to turn them into reality.

A very big thank you to Carlos, for bringing his nephews to the race. Leonel who later joined the convoy of cars escorting the race, thank you for driving a round trip of about 200km just to cheer us on. Your presence is a sign that this sport has a strong chance of survival in Mozambique. “Something” is always that much better than nothing.

These little things that mean a lot do not go unnoticed.

See you all at the next event, the ITT on the 27th of August 2006.

Photo of the Starting Lineup

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