Entry into the Slovak road cycling season

Over the past few years, Suchá nad Parnou has always been the road cycling season kick-off weekend.

All CK BB riders except for Novák were present at the start. Riders  who  had  just  returned from the demanding stage race in Morocco did not ride to their full potential due to fatigue, some didn’t even start both days. Marek Čanecký decided not to take part in the time trial, leaving the best team placing for Zrelica in 12th position and Fraňo in 13th position.

„All of us who have just returned from Morocco feel still very tired from the race and travelling and didn’t have time to recover and acclimatize well yet. Last year  Fraňo  fought  here for podium placing in the time trial, this year we were far from repeating last year’s results. I believe we will all recover well for our next week’s races,“ said Roman Zrelica.
Sunday  race  knew  it’s  podium  riders  from the very beginning when 12 riders escaped from the peloton. This break-away was initiated by our Bátora who later dropped  from this group due to a flat tire. CK BB riders in the peloton thus tried to chase down the leading group but since the time difference was too big by then,  the  80km  chase  was  not  successful.  Marek  Čanecký’s  12th  place  was  the  best CK BB placing this day. We had quite a successful day in the joint women-cadet’s category where Zuzana Vojtášová claimed 11th place in a peloton of over 50 riders.

„I’m quite satisfied with our riding today even though we underestimated the whole race tactically. We had only one rider in the front group and when he dropped out  due  to a flat tire, we had no choice but to chase the front group. Our good performance in the race is not visible in the results, but well, that’s sport. We have to learn from our mistakes,“ were Martin Fraňo’s words regarding the Sunday road race.

Second  racing  weekend  awaited our riders at the end of April in Dudince and Krupina in the south of Central Slovakia. Martin Fraňo claimed some points in the Saturday  points  race criterion, but it was Čanecký who was on the right spot in the right time when the decisive attack broke away from the rest of the field. Many  attacks  preceded,  initiated  mostly  by Dukla riders. Čanecký rode the rest of the race in a small group with Mahďar, Jurčo and Daško and claiming a 2nd place in the prevalence of Dukla riders is a really good result. Jurčo won the race, Fraňo finished 10th.

„Our  goal  was to help Fraňo and Bátora in the point sprints while the peloton was still compact and try to be in each and every break-away. Unfortunately some Dukla  riders  decided  to  escape  pretty  soon in the race. I was lucky I was in that decisive break-away. Finishing 2nd in a group of Dukla riders is a great placing, I am happy with my performance today,” evaluated Marek Čanecký Saturday’s race.

All  CK  BB  riders were present at the start of the Sunday road race in Krupina, ready to fight for their later victory. A small break-away was formed from the very  beginning, led by Hungarian riders Bernard and Simon and our Ivan Viglaský. Ivan couldn’t keep the speed of the duo in the difficult Senohrad climb, so CK BB  riders along with riders from CK Dohňany chased down the Hungarian duo who had a 2 minutes lead by then. Tough work especially for Palčák, Zrelica and Novák during  the  first  lap,  followed  by a solo ride of Palčák in the front of the peloton with strong side wind and followed by the remaining CK BB riders Fraňo, Zrelica  and  Debnár  before  the  climb in the 2nd lap. Their goal to decrease the time gap and get rid of as many rivals before the ascent as possible worked, leaving  only  four  riders  in  front  –  Čanecký,  Haring,  Daško and Vyšňa. Peloton torn to pieces way behind them. These four riders soon joined the leading Hungarian  duo.  Haring even managed to win the intermediate sprint when entering the 3rd lap. Čanecký attacked in the last climb and only Daško and Haring were able  to  keep  up  with  him.  Two  CK BB riders in front used their prevalence in the front three men group and Martin Haring was the winner of today’s stage.

Čanecký finished 3rd, Debnár 9th and Bátora 12th.Čanecký moved to overall 3rd place in the Slovak road cup, Haring 4th behind the leading riders Daško and Kováč. CK BB moved from 9th to 2nd place in the team’s classification, Dukla Trenčín in 1st place.

TV coverage from Sunday Krupina race, Slovak Television STV (from 12:46min.)

Photos from Krupina and Dudince race in a FB gallery..

Results in the Racing schedule 2013

CK  BB  riders  decided to spend the bank holiday on May 1st in a road marathon in Prievidza. Even though it was intended mostly as a good quality training, the goal was, of course, to go for the victory. Fraňo initiated the first break-away and when he was chased down some 17km from the start, he immediately joined the attacking duo Haring and Czech Matula. This trio  in  front  soon had a 2 minute lead. Other riders attacked in the Bojnice climb and Čanecký, Barényi, Czech Hradil and Debnár managed to come to the front group  during the second lap. These seven riders with four CK BB riders cooperated until climb in the last, third, lap, claiming a time distance of 5 minutes to the  rest  of the field. Čanecký won the race thanks to his solo attack in the last climb. Basically all the riders of the leading group crossed the finish line alone, all scattered over the last 15 kilometers following the climb. Debnár finished runner-up before the Czech Matula and fourth Martin Haring. The showman of today,  person  who  made the race interesting from the very beginning by being in a break away literally from 0km, Fraňo, came in 7th place. Other CK BB riders managed  to  escape  from the peloton before the finish and claimed 8th place Glajza, 10th place Palčák. Riders CK BB took 6 out of the first 10 places plus had winners in all of their respective age categories: Čanecký up to 30 years, Debnár up to 40 years, Glajza up to 50 years, Longauer above 50 years.

„We  decided  to  take  advantage of the bank holiday, the nice weather and the proximity of the race. Even though it was a marathon, we wanted to race actively from the very beginning. It was a great preparation for our upcoming races, I think all of us enjoyed it. I burned all my matches today, crossed the finish line only  by  the  means  of  my  strong  will, with no energy left in my legs. We spent the rest of the day in a nice ambient of our friend, Milan Barényi’s garden barbecuing. It really was a nice racing and also a teambuilding day today,” said Fraňo about how the team spent the bank holiday.