Written by Monkeys United at 11:23 24/12-2010
Almost a year ago, there where some talented dutch riders who decided to start there own cyclingteam. They contacted the OCM-board and after some formalities, they where granted a licence to compete in the OCM-competition. Placed in division 6, which was the lowest division at that time, a team known as Monkeys United started to compete against the other teams with only one goals: become the best of the Netherlands.
It was a tough goal ofcourse since skils was on top of the board for a long time, but if you don't set high goals, you'll never reach the top. So with captain Huib Langenbach and the talented Wob Witting as the most important members of the team, Monkeys United started the long climb.
Witting developed so quickly that soon he became the new captain. Langenbach wasn't happy about this and decided to leave the team. He said that he was promised to be the captain of the team and couldn't believe that a youngster could take that position after roughly one season. The pressure on Wittings shoulders rose but he managed to meet the high expectations. He even managed to win London - London twice in a row, a great performance at that time.
Other talents didn't seem to keep up the pace at which the monkeys where growing so they also had to leave the team. This made some space to buy other talented riders and with Cornelius Enting the first big purchasement was done. After training some sprinters, Monkeys United made the first steps in getting more allround and bought this big time trail talent from fishnuts.
Andy van Hintum also joined the monkeys and he concentrated more on the cobble races. But the most succesfull rider that came to join the team is definately Hanneken Engelborgh. In belgium he was already known to be a big talent but no one ever thought he would be able to fulfill his potential.
He developed in a fast pace and the first big victory was winning the division 3 Rotterdam Classic. There still were doubts if he would be able to compete in the top division but a season later, at the end of season 14, most of those doubts are gone. Season 14 is the season of the big breakthrough, Monkeys United promoted to the top division and Engelborgh and his companions were able to show the world that they were up for it.
It took until day 41 to get the first result in the top division, a third place in Hermanus - Cape Town, but it was an important one. They had shown to the world that they were up for the challenge. Soon after that, there was a big Tour in Essex. Engelborgh ended eight in the rankings so that was also a nice result.
But the biggest result in the history of Monkeys United was accomplished today, Hanneken Engelborgh wins the Nederlandse Tour. And a big success it was, not only did Engelborgh end on the podium on 3 stages and win the general classification, he also climbed in the rankings. He made it to the number 1 position in the belgium rankings and number 5 in the overall OCM rankings. Monkeys United are now 15th of the world and even though there are still 2 teams ahead of them, by winning the Nederlandse Tour, Engelborgh can say that he is the best of the Netherlands.
Subscribers: 5
| |
Comments
No comments yet.
|
Other Team's Press Releases
|
|
|
