Written by Velosipedska at 14:22 8/2-2021
Greetings, readers.
A slightly different news post this time, as we announced in VN#16, Gjorgi Beqiri retired following today's race in the Emirates. In this post, we will look back at Gjorgi's career and list his achievements as trailblazer for Macedonian Cycling.
Gjorgi Beqiri was one of the 3 riders in Macedonia's 'silver generation', together with Nedzmedin Savevski and Dragi Stavrevski. All three are now approaching retirement, Beqiri being the first to stop riding professionally. Dragi is now with our team, following a spell at Alpinisti na Ohrid, Nedzmedin is racing for TeamWollister.
After a few seasons meandering the semi-professional circuit, Gjorgi was approached by KrMees to lead the Macedonia-based Velosipedska. He didn't hesitate to grasp a last chance to ride for a national team as a pro. From day 1, Gjorgi was involved with this team, scouting talented youngsters and leading the squad in the first races. Despite joining us as a 32-year-old, he was instrumental to the development of the team for 4 seasons. Let's look back at his time at Velosipedska.
Season 52 was Gjorgi's personal best season. At Luesia, he took his first and only victory as a pro, in La Calle Real de Salento and Arrecife - Femés Gjorgi finished on the podium. In these S52 races, Beqiri took his only steps on the podium, since he slotted into a supporting role in later seasons. Gjorgi supported Riste Nikolovski during his training in S52, and after that Riste would be Velosipedska's main man in climbing races. Riste took 2 second places in his debut season, but the team's highlight of the season was his YC victory at the Odyssey of the Oryx. A prize for young riders, but oldtimer Beqiri carried Riste to several summits.
In S53, Riste had a tough start, but in Keelung - Wulai Falls, Gjorgi guided the youngster to a podium spot. In this years edition of the Odyssey of the Oryx, Gjorgi had a free role following Riste's ill-timed injury. Gjorgi still proved his worth, helping sprinter Metodija Aksentiev take an unexpected stage, the first tour stage Velosipedska ever won.
The success continued in S54. Gjorgi was involved when Vladimir Gavalovski repeated Metodija's surprise stage win by winning the opening stage of the Odyssey of the Oryx as well. Riste joined the tour in good health this season, and took 5th overall, two 2d places and two top-9's. Gjorgi captained the team in their best Oryx ever. Gjorgi was also instrumental in helping Riste grow as a rider and as a person. Riste won the Oryx YC, but never actually finished first in a race. With Gjorgi in support, Riste won The Kirkjubøur Race on day 68 of this season.
In his retirement season - S55 - Gjorgi was one of the few people who had a say in deciding the future of our team. Many team members were opposed to selling the sprint team, but Gjorgi spoke a lot with the riders, and we reached a consensus. All Macedonian sprinters have now found homes elsewhere, and are still winning races with their foreign teams. Gjorgi started joining the team car on a couple of occasions, but still raced as road captain, guiding Riste to victories at Altdorf - Ems and Salida Climbs. Another special occasion was Atacama Ascension, wherethe young Jovan Georgievski took his first ever pro victory.
Gjorgi joined us on the bike for the last time on the opening day of S56, and his retirement race could not have been more special. Protegé and friend Riste Nikolovski won the Jebel Hafeet Challenge, celebrating Beqiri's career and starting the season in a special way.
A few numbers to round up Gjorgi's career at Velosipedska.
Gjorgi raced 105 races for Velosipedska, a team record on his retirement day (Riste Nikolovski currently sits at 99 appearances).
1 victory.
2 podium places.
3 top-9 finishes.
94 points.
30k in prize money.
With Gjorgi as a teammate, team leaders have gained 285,500k in prize money for the team.
Gjorgi raised 12k in activities off the bike.
Luckily for the Macedonian cycling scene, Gjorgi will not leave Velosipedska. Gjorgi will be starting his job as trainer today, he'll also join the staff in the team car this season. We thank Gjorgi for his contribution to Macedonian cycling during a period where these two words were rarely uttered together. We're glad he will be a Velosipedska team member for many more seasons. Gjorgi himself said he'd like to thank all the fans who supported him during his career, you can all be sure he'll be around for a while!
Kind regards and thanks for reading,
KrMees (Manager)
Vujadin Mileski (PR)
Gjorgi Beqiri
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Comments
We all have a Gjergji.
Makes me think of Bogomozov.
Great read, MrKees!
It´s great to have such skills in programming and stuff, I think you will have a kind of advantage over other managers in the long run because of the nature of this game.
Haha thanks, I've automated most of it, so this is what I do now:
- Add rider ID to sheet if I get a new rider
- Fill in the race name and rider names after entering a race (pretty quick, I have 6 man templates and a full calendar to pick the race from)
- fill in the result (just a number after each race)
- add a figure to the balance sheet when I receive or spend money
It's only 5 minute
I´m absolutely fascinated by the amount of stats you keep about your riders, even not the best ones. That must mean work after each race. I´m not sure I would manage to do that for very long.
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