Written by Canadian Nippon at 02:59 25/6-2021
Here we are almost a year removed from the last article and we had originally planned to write something much different about the Canadian Nippon team as once again the team has changed a lot over the course of the season but in a good way but once again they have too many projects still to be completed.
Instead we are going to talk about the best day in Canadian Nippon history to date in terms of scoring points but is it a blessing or curse?
The run down: Canadian Nippon these past few days was taking part in the Tour de Perm (not official name) where they expected to be competitive in individual stages rather then the GC overall and might have an off chance at a good result within the sprinting classification.
Team was lead surprisingly by Boris Bitao rather the Irving Watts as the team expected a better overall result for Bitao during the Hill based sprint stage that started the tour. High winds would rip a part the peleton and seen a bunch of riders gain time when it was expected to be a bunch sprint; which never materialized. Adding to the issues of the team Bitao would also crash during the stage forcing the team to chase back the peleton and leaving Bitao out of position heading into the final stages of the stage. This left Canadian Nippon on the back foot as Bitao was never contention as the team had hoped but rather finished a distant 10th during the stage some 37' down on the leaders and no sprint classification points.
Second stage was what the team expected; a climb stage that the team would have no chance in being competitive and this stage didn't disappoint as Bitao was the best placed rider a distant 92nd overall on the stage.
Third stage is where everything started to kick off for Canadian Nippon as Conan Guillot was a favorite for the TT stage at the tour being one of the few riders with the ability taking part in the tour. He would sadly not win the day as somehow the General Classification riders managed to hang around the TT specilist time with eventual General Classification winner ussi Dahlkvist, claiming the surprise stage victory with Guillot finish in second. Another disappointing result when you compare the riders as it was Guillot race to win and he simply didn't.
Due to the team only looking for stage results the team also decided to take part in the Rotterdam Classic with Irving Watts taking the lead of the team in the classic sprint race. Expectation were tempered due to the fact that Watts hasn't had the best of results during the classic in the past with his best result heading into the day being a distant twentieth . Today was the day that he would prove even his own manager that he had a chance at sprinting classic event by placing an impressive third at the end of the race.
The day would be completed with the final stage of the Perm Tour with Bitao once again looking to score a stage result to finish off the tour in style but again the expectations were tempered heading into the final stage due to the way the rest of the tour played out. Bitao would finial prove his worth and get within a place of a podium finish fourth overall on the final stage.
Overall the day would net the Canadian Nippon team around 210pts towards the overall OCM rankings and would see Canadian Nippon for the first time officially mange to climb to division 2; having taken part in 2.1 race previously.
The Perm tour while didn't net the overall expected results wasn't a complete lose with Conan Guillot climbing in the final General Classifications to finish a respectable 17th overall and Bitao would finish ninth overall in the sprint classification where he was a non factor until the final stage of the tour.
Now Canadian Nippon finds themselves in a interesting position where they had planned loosely to take part in the sprinting tour; Kangaroo Tour with the sign up starting later this week/ early next week but no in division two might miss the actually sign up dates for the tour but ..... This isn't the case as while Canadian Nippon score 210pts and became a division two member for the first time they are expected to drop right back into division three within a day or two with 100pts expected to be dropped.
The team could still get caught out if the team continues to score as the team also will take part in Fort William ITT later tomorrow, which unlikely any of the riders should score a result as the event is more being run to complete the regulations breaks between training for Andre Due and Abel Frint. Off chance rider for the team that could wreck things for Canadian Nippon would be Frederick Pattison.
The team will also need to consider adding Boris Bitao to a almost near prefect classic race in Division two for the riders ability; in the Grasse - Toulon classic hill sprint. The sign up is later today and one would assume that Bitao will be given the nod and actually enter the event with a huge chance of placing well.
I guess the blessing will be the extra cash for officially managing to climb into division two and the fact that if the team does somehow score tomorrow during the Fort William ITT, then the team will simple need to switch focus to Vuelta a Valparaìso a much longer tour that would once again factor in Boris Bitao due to the hill sprint aspect of the tour but again would be very similar to the Perm Tour with stage results being the goal rather then placement within any of the overall classifications. Off Chance at placing well in the Sprint Classification despite all the General Classification contenders scoring well in the classification without having any sprinting ability?
Either way it was a historic day for the Canadian Nippon and with a bit of luck they might still be able to complete in the Kangroo tour, where they have a chance at General Classification or worse they end up at the Vuelta a Valparaìso looking for race wins. Who knows even Bitao might claim an off the chance classic result at Grasse - Toulon?
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