Written by World Communism Team at 11:40 9/12-2020
This second bit of season 55 was focused on getting ready for  Cesko-Slovensky Pohar as selected riders entered a number of races to prepare Race Shape and team spirit ahead of the objective.
Unfortunately, last minute doubts on whether the team would drop to Division 6 in time caused management to scramble some changes of plan, that derailed the preparation and meant that the intended riders could no longer trigger Top Form for the race, which put a large dent in the teams ambitions for the event.
In the meanwhile, after the drop was realised and sign up was secured, the riders not selected for that cup had the chance to race competitively with youngster André Tié Bi as a captain. The young Ghanaian notably scored some points at Caves and Lifts Crit with 9th place, and at BD Aalborg Gadeløb with 7th place.
Then came the day to start the race at Cesko-Slovensky Pohar. Given the profile of the race, and the attributes of the rider, in order for Addis Gebreselassie to have a chance at the cup’s GC, the Ethiopian would pretty much have to win the opening king stage, and have to score at least a top 5 on stage 2, to have enough points in hand not to be caught after the final TT in Bratislava. A rather tall order, but something not completely unthinkable, that could realise with the right form and the right amount of luck on the day.
On stage 1 Ceske Budejovice - Brno, the king stage, Addis Gebreselassie’s ambitions took another hit. As while this was probably a must win for him, luck was not on his side and he had a very poorly timed off day.
To add to the frustration, Addis Gebreselassie still took 4th place despite his off day, leaving one to wonder what could have been, without the off day, and if team chairman uMaliyasi had not failed to trigger the Top Form as planned.
In stage 2 Brno - Trnava , things went about as expected, and Addis Gebreselassie achieved his second 4th place finish in as many stages, bringing him to 3rd place in the provisional GC. All while Kuumba Rusesabagina riding as his teammate finished in 8th position on the stage.
The final TT at Bratislava TT was never a place to earn points for the captain who finished a distant 38th, slipping to 6th for his final GC spot. As better suited teammate Farouk Dingi finished 9th.
A 6th place GC finish that could not directly be called disappointing, as this would be somewhat arrogant. But which really leaves the team and management unsatisfied, especially after the amount of focus and preparation invested in the race.
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Comments
Thank you. Yes, still an official result in the bag. Those don't always flow in easily.
That will sure teach me not to make those same errors next time. I should be smarter going forward. :)
You will get out of this stronger!
Still a top 9 in a cup !
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