Racing starts in Africa this year
Cyclists of CK BB start their racing season in Africa this year. They will head for Milano airport on Friday afternoon to catch the plane to Morocco and a connection flight to Western Sahara few days later.
Four riders of the team, Čanecký, Debnár, Fraňo and Viglaský will take part in the 3 one-day UCI races Les Challenges de la Marché Verte in Western Sahara. Races are organized by the Moroccan Federation of Cycling. CK BB is taking part in these Western Sahara races already for the second time, with our first appearance in 2010.
"We are leaving on Friday night. After our flight to Casablanca, we have one more flight to catch to Layoune, Western Sahara. We are looking forward to the riding in warm weather, winter in our part of Europe has been really cruel and extremelly long this year. Races in Morocco are always nicely organized and on a high level, that is why we accepted invitation of the Moroccan federation of cycling despite the lack of racing kilometers this year so far. We tried to simulate the high racing intensity in cross-country skiing races which are a great alternative for preparation of cyclists. After these UCI 1.2 races the racing season in Europe starts soon too and we also hope to return to Morocco for Tour de Maroc few weeks later." said CK BB manager and rider in one person, Martin Fraňo.
First race was organized in the city of Laayoune, where riders faced strong wind in two 52km long laps. The race was, as usually, very nervous from the very beginning with many attacks from the early start with our riders Fraňo and Čanecký joining these tries. The peloton didn’t divide until 30th kilometre. A group consisting of only Moroccan riders and one Polish rider increased their distance in the strong side wind quite easy and after they got rid of the Polish rider, four Moroccan cyclists crossed the finish fine first, Essad Abelouache taking the victory. Our Marek Čanecký finished in second group, in 25nd position overall. Miro Debnár didn’t have a good day when he punctured from Marek’s group with only few kilometres to go. He thus finished in the 3rd group with Fraňo and Viglaský.
Laayoune was the starting city for the second stage as well, the finish was some 100km north in town of Tarfaya. Race along the coastline is always affected by strong side wind that split the peloton after only few meters in the race. Three groups were formed shortly after. The first “Moroccan“ one was followed by a “Polish“ one and further down the road by the main international peloton with our Fraňo and Čanecký. Remaining riders were continually dropping out of the race as there was no chance to chace the front in such a strong wind. Čanecký didn’t finish this stage due to a fall, so it was only Martin Fraňo who finished out of our riders, in 22nd position overall. But even his group finished over the strick time limit which was only few minutes. Moroccan Jelloul won this stage.
Boujdour hosted the third 145km long stage. There was strong back wind almost all stage long with few side-wind sections. This is probably the worst wind conditions for a race due to extremelly high speed average (49,7km/h). After only 30km of “flying“ through the Sahara desert, the peloton once again split into three parts. Plot of the stage resembled the first stages with the Moroccan riders taking the lead again. Ismail Aayoune won the stage, our Marek Čanecký finished in 19th position. Our remaining riders, Viglaský, Fraňo and Debnár finished in the first 30 places, but again over the merciless 5% time limit.
All the caravane was transported to a 350km distanced Dakhla later that day. The last race, 70km long city criterion awaited all the riders the following morning. Race speed was set very high from the very start with many attacks. Speed average was some 46km/h. Marek Čanecký was riding very actively from the start of the race, but only Martin Fraňo of our riders cought the decisive attact of seven riders. He joined the two Polish, two Moroccan, one French and one Lybian rider and soon after they got a big 1 min. advantage to the rest of the group. With still long time to go this group suddenly quit their cooperation and after numerous attacks Fraňo and the Lybian Belgasem lost contact with the lead of the race. Three of our riders, Viglaský, Fraňo and Debnár finished in the second group. Marek Čanecký again had a collision, he didn’t have enough time to avoid contact with Polish rider colliding with a pedestrian. Luckily no severe injuries for any of them.
Riders were later transported by an army plane to Casablanca. Members of our team enjoyed the nice weather conditions and spent the day training along the sea coast.
„I didn’t expect any big results in these races. I know racing in Morocco is always fast and tough. Too fast for this part of the year for us. But I tried to ride actively despite not having good legs. I’m really glad I had the chance to come to this race and ride nice and fast kilometers in the early season,“ were Marek Čanecký words after his return home.
„I’m perfectly satisfied with this race. All our riders finished all races plus we also went for a short warm-up ride before each stage. We didn’t really try to save all the energy for racing, we know it’s always Moroccan guys taking the lead in these windy conditions. It’s always easier to race when you have four teams of the same nationality with one goal. So we, just like the other teams as well tried to take advantage of the nice, sunny and warm climate and train as much as possible during our whole stay in Morocco. I was glad the other nationalities, such as French and riders from Bahrain and Libya cooperated well in the main peloton, profited of the race for training even after dropping out from the lead. We always crossed the finishe line, even when over time limit. Only Polish riders coming directly from their training camp in Spain acquired some UCI points besides Moroccans. There’s also a big difference in the way of riding three one day races to a stage race. Here you go at 100% from the very beginning, never slow down and those who drop out usually abandon the race.” said Martin Fraňo about the Challenges de la Marché Verte.
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Photo courtesy of Mohamed Mendoubi
