While Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung were clearly upset after missing out on the King of the Mountains jersey earlier in the week, that did not stop the riders from giving it everything they had during the final stage 4 time trial at the Coppi e Bartali today. Dario Cataldo (Team Sky) would take the stage victory by posting a time of 16’28” while his teammate Peter Kennaugh was able to hold onto the yellow jersey and win the race overall.
While a time trial does not necessarily suit our young African climbers, the 10km challenge they faced was more to their liking as there were a few climbs on course, including a very steep wall of a finish over the final 200m. Each of the Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung riders would post times inside the top 10 at the time that they finished. As they GC riders started to come in our riders placings were bettered by some but not by all.
Eventually, Daniel Teklehaimanot’s time of 17’00”, Merhawi Kudus’ time of 17’04” and Louis Meintjes’ time of 17’06” would be good enough for 9th, 10th and 12th respectively. This was a great performance by our young African riders that allows the team to leave this race with its head held high.
Directeur Sportif – Manel Lacambra
“I am very happy with these riders. We were improving day by day and in the last hard TT stage our performance was very good. We just missed the mountain jersey because of a technical problem from the jury but we know we are the unofficial winners of it.
This team has found a nice groove and are working well together, I can definitely see a big future for this team. For sure with the riders we had here, we will have always something to say on the climbs and this makes me really excited for the future races.”
Settimana Internazionale Coppa e Bartali (Italy) – (27-30 March/UCI 2.1)
Staff: Manel Lacambra (Directeur Sportif), Bastian Buffel (Soigneur), Paolo Baldi (Soigneur), Daniele Nieri (Mechanic), Andreas Beck-Watt (Mechanic)
Stage Results
General Classification
