Written by Svalbard Trek at 12:37 28/1-2019
After last seasons terrible performance at the Odyssey of the Oryx, there was little hope of competing against some of the best tour specialists in the world. Among the favourites was Drahomír Slovák, a previous winner of the tour in his fifth participation and a history of finishing in the top 10 on GC. Axel Lundberg was predicted to be stiff competition for Slovak as was Jurgen Devenyns.
Trek had been in fine form in the lead up to this tour taking five second placed finishes and two victories in one day races this season. Skyler Nightingale took the Portuguese time trial Sagres - Cabo de São Vicente whilst Solomon Birch took top spot in the cobbled one day race GP de Valparaíso. Trek had dominated the Chilean race with three riders in the top four. Neo Ngoubiol took second in that particular edition.
Our team for the tour featured Solomon Birch as our captain. The 25 year old previously took third place in the Young Riders Classification at the prestigious Tweedaagse van Antwerpen and was in his final year of qualifying for the youth competition. Sven Köhler, Frank Davidsen and Roeland Goossens made up our team for the flat roads and cobbles, whilst the extremely experienced duo of Delmar Bocook and Sigurd Sande would take over once the road started going up.
Stage 1 would take the riders from St. Oshakati – Namutoni in a 184 km examination of the riders skills on cobbles. Trek were one of the few squads to bring a team focused on the cobbles and getting an early positive result in stage 1. Despite several large breakaways going clear at various points through the stage, Trek controlled the race with the help of TimmoCC and it was all back together again as the cobbled sections began to take a toll on those less comfortable on the hellish paving stones. With less than a kilometre to go, Solomon Birch was one of four left at the front of the race. Birch was always second favourite and he secured Svalbard Trek's first tour podium.
Morale was high after the previous day as the tour headed towards Palmwag and the first chance for the climbers to assert their grip on the general classification. A number of attacks on the final climb saw an unfortunate Jurgen Devenyns dropped. He would go on to lose enough time to cede the green jersey to our very own Birch. Birch clung on to the top of the climb, cresting just behind a lead group including Slovak and Karstein Wilhelmsen. He managed to catch them as the line loomed but despite his best efforts, he could not quite take the victory, instead taking third on the day. With this result, Birch took hold of the YC, GC and SC all in one go. And the confidence in the team grew yet more.
The third stage, to Walvis Bay was the longest of the entire tour, standing at just over 236 km. Several early mountains put paid to the efforts of the big sprinters though the tough descents towards the end of the stage gave a chance for those dropped to get back on if they took a few risks. With the best of the fast men out of the way, Birch faced off with Ciro Martins for the stage win. Once again he was to fall just short but he began to cement his place at the top of the GC, SC and YC by taking a third consecutive podium.
The time trial in stage four was to be key for what was turning out to be a serious charge at winning every jersey on offer for Birch. Of all the riders at the top of the standings, Birch did the best to slightly extend his lead in the GC from 24 seconds to 35 over Drahomir Slovak but the talking point for Svalbard trek was the performance of the veteran Sigurd Sande. He had been lingering in the top 20 of the GC up until this point, but a huge effort saw him take third on the stage and rise into fourth on GC. Suddenly, with just two stages to go, Trek were still underdogs, but had just been given a sniff of potential success.
Stage 5, the first of toughest mountain tests the stood between trek and our first tour jersey. And it was here that the supreme effort began to take its toll on Birch, and for the first time in the tour, there was no podium finish on the stage. With just under a kilometre to go, Tavio Catalan made a blistering attack that Birch could not follow. Catalan would hold on to take the stage 5 victory but he would also drag Axel Lundberg and Drahomír Slovák clear to eat into Birch’s 35 second gap. At the end of the stage, Birch would still hold on to 26 seconds, but the confidence to go and attack Birch was imprinted on the minds of the other teams. Sigurd Sande, who had done so much to help Birch through the first 4 stages and also sit on the podium, also cracked, finishing seventh. Both still clung to their respective podium spots but could they repeat the trick on the final, king stage. The results at the end of this stage, did confirm the first victor of the tour. Birch’s consistency, especially through the first three stages now gave him an unassailable lead in the sprint classification. If he finished the tour, he would win Trek’s very first jersey without a doubt.
Stage 6 is undoubtedly the toughest climbing stage of the tour to the radio station atop Grossherzog Friedrich Berg. It was on top of this brute of a climb that the final standings would be decided. It was here that the final attacks would go. The first few failed to crack Birch as he chased down Drahomir Slovak three times, but the fourth time was a step too far. With five kilometres still to go, Axel Lundberg and Drahomir Slovak escaped along with a group of about 7 others including Ciro Martins, Allan Jenner and Jurgen Devenyns. Unfortunately, they all had similar goals, to put as much time into Sigurd and Solomon as possible. Despite the best efforts of out top two riders to pace each other to the top and to hold on to their GC positions, they were losing time quickly. The virtual lead soon passed over to Slovak and at one stage it looked like Lundberg would also take aim at second on GC as Sande dropped off the podium and fell to fifth on the overall. As the group at the head of the race neared the final kilometre, the cohesion dropped as some began to aim for the stage began to plot their attack which allowed the two Trek riders to stabilise the time gaps. An exhausted Birch collapsed as he crossed the finish line, bitterly disappointed to have been knocked off top spot on the final stage, but he had held on to the Young Classification to add to the Sprint classification. Sigurd Sande took fifth overall.
We were delighted with our first ever tour jerseys, a totally unexpected result. Birch has expressed his determination to return and to add the GC to his growing collection of results. These results left us in division 4 for the first time ever, where we know it will be virtually impossible to stay, but we hope that this season will be the breakthrough season for our team. We have already got more results and more points than ever before, and still have a number of races to compete in before the end of the season.
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Comments
Cheers. It was a great tour. I need to do another
Man, what a press release. I´ve just found it. A lot of work here, very nice.
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