The final 180km stage of the Course de Cycliste Solidarnosc – Poland was ProTouch Cycling’s last chance to have a serious go at the General Classification (GC).
ProTouch have secured the King of the Mountain (KOM) jersey but their game plan was always to aim for yellow. Anything else that came their way would be a bonus.
Jayde Julius and Clint Hendricks got into a great move early on, but the peleton never let it gain momentum.
At about the 59km mark the next move came when nine riders split off the front. Two riders in this group, including Clint, were a minute down on GC.
In order for the pace to be maintained at the front, ProTouch arranged for Clint to attack at 140km, which he did well and split the nine-rider break down to three.
With 40km to go and the six dropped riders being seen by the chasers, it was like sharks smelling blood in the water and they were almost swallowed alive as the peleton raced past them. They then made contact with Clint’s trio on the second last climb.
Jayde was still up there with James Fourie, but the climb was a monster and Jayde was not able to hang on.
ProTouch finished the tour with only three riders due to crashes and illness, and it showed once again the importance of a complete team hunting as a pack and the difference they can make.
The team lacked that extra guy or two to take a turn on the front when needed, or to assist Jayde on the final climb.
ProTouch Cycling walks away from Poland with their heads held high. The team will continue hunting for UCI points and getting South Africa back to being the number-one cycling nation in Africa.
