Hello, and welcome to my new story about the fictional cycling team Touch Africa, I’m really excited to get going with this project, and hopefully it’ll be a long one. I’ll be using the PCMDaily 2016 Database, but the first few chapters will be leading up to the 2016 season. If you’ve got any questions or suggestions, just let me know and I hope you’ll enjoy it.
Difficulty: Hard
Database: PCMdaily 2016DB V1.0
Chapter 1
The Rise of East African Cycling
Since the start of 2013, David Singh and Kelvin Okocha have been creating the groundwork for a new professional road cycling team with the core ideals and riders from East Africa, in an attempt to establish the region as the future of the cycling sport. To do this, they first had to get financed, and spent the first few months pitching their ideas to various regional organisations, from local businesses to national governments, to various degrees of success. Having come up with the money, they turned to creating the team, and with the help of former cyclist Christophe Bassons, came up with a list of riders and staff. After signing ten riders who had already shown a lot of promise in races such as Tour of Rwanda, they made a big marketing campaign for try outs. Working with the University of Nairobi’s Institute of Sports Science, they set out measuring the VO2 max and the performance of over five hundred young men and women from across the region. Famed for having the world’s best long distance runners, East Africans have the potential to challenge the Eurocentric cycling world. Now everything David Singh and Kelvin Okocha need is a name. That and a plan.
The team has 23 riders from 10 countries, seven staff members from three countries, and three main sponsors from Kenya, Algeria & South Africa. Touch Africa has promised to stay true to their roots, believing in slowly building up a team capable of challenging bigger budget teams.
The oldest rider in the team, Patrick Kalu, is a veteran of the sport, having ridden in regional competitions for the last decade. At 35 years of age, he brings experience and leadership to the team. He’s no great winner, but he’s a tough rider and likes going on long breakaways. Kalu will be a vital part of the team in its first couple of years.
Abraham Ruhumuriza (33), the most renowned of the first squad, having won five editions of Tour of Rwanda, he’s mostly ridden in African races, and will be the team leader for the first season. He’s especially good on shorter climbs, but he’s more of a diesel engine than a quick attacker, such as Adrien Niyonshuti.
Adrien Niyonshuti (28) won his home tour of Rwanda in 2008, and took part in the 2012 London Olympics. He’s one of the riders who has ridden for MTN-Qhubeka.
Spoiler
Abraham Ruhumuriza
Adrien Niyonshuti
In a move that is perhaps more akin to golf or other, ‘non-physical’ sports, David and Kelvin decided to sign two female, elite cyclists to the team in 2014. Those two riders are the South African An-Li Pretorius (not related), and the young Eritrean Wehazit Kidane. At the time of the announcement a few months before the first season, it caused massive interest from the media, as predicted, but David and Kelvin were quick to point out that Pretorius and Kidane were not signed as a gimmick, but were fully expected to contribute to the success of the team. They also pointed out that cycling is a massively male-dominated sport, and that it was vital to try and inspire young girls to get interested in cycling. How Pretorius and Kidane will acclimate to the team and the peloton remains to be seen, but they’ve both said that they’re excited by the challenges ahead and refuse to back down.
Spoiler
An-Li Pretorius
Wehazit Kidane
Perhaps the greatest talent of the team is Pascal Rwisereka, from Kigali, Rwanda. Just 19 years old, he’s shown massive promise in the cycling scene, including winning a stage in last year’s Tour of Rwanda, finishing in seventh overall. When asked by Kelvin whether he prefers to sprint or to climb, he simply shrugged and replied that he likes cycling. That and winning. He’s good at that.
His older brother Niriniri Rwisereka (23) is also a big talent, having won more races but not shown the same high ceiling potential as Pascal. He’s more of a standard climber, and it remains to be seen whether he will be a leader or a domestique de luxe.
The only natural sprinter of the team is the 27 year old, Mpho Okafor. He’s mainly ridden in Africa and Asia, but was a part of the smaller Belgian team Verenda’s Willems during the 2011 season, but struggled in the European peloton. He’ll serve as the team’s sprinter during the first few seasons while younger guys, such as Dylan Girdlestone (25), Meron Teshome (22) and Richard Laizer (25) develop.
Other young riders are Jean Bosco Nsengimana (Rwanda, 21), Mekseb Debesay (Eritrea, 23), Valens Ndayisenga (Rwanda, 20), who will hopefully develop and give the team the depth it needs to challenge European dominance.
Overall, it’s a strong team with a good core of veteran riders, but it’s especially the team’s younger generation that the team will rise or fall with. They’ve shown promise in African races, and will require a transitional period before they’ll be able to challenge in the European cycling scene, and it’s the job of David and Kelvin to make sure that they’ll reach their full potential.
PCM.Daily NFL Fantasy Football Champion: 2012 PCM.Daily NHL Prediction Game Champion: 2013 PCM.Daily NFL Prediction Game Champion: 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2021
Chapter 2
2014 Tour of Rwanda (November 15 – November 22 2014)
Touch Africa began the 2014 season with success in the UCI Africa Tour, winning several races in the first couple of months, before having a dip in the summer, with a winless streak in June and July, before coming back strong. Now, at the Tour of Rwanda, Touch Africa will race their final race of the season.
The 2014 edition of the Tour of Rwanda promised to be an exciting race, with returning champions Dylan Girdlestone (2013), and six time champion Abraham Ruhumuriza (2002-2005, 2007) showcasing the colours of Touch Africa. From the start of the season, the Tour of Rwanda was the primary goal for the team, with the hope of winning it again, and as such, they brought their A-team, led by Ruhumuriza and Girdlestone, and a solid group of youngsters, including the Rwisereka brothers.
The Tour of Rwanda is held in the autumn, and although the race first began in 1988, between 1991 and 2000 no race was held, but since its return its popularity has been on the rise, and with the success of Touch Africa on the UCI Africa Tour, expectations are high. The winner will be determined after 8 stages, with two crucial hilly stages that will determine the winner of the general classification.
Stage 1
Stage 1 consists of a short prologue around the capital Kigali. Thanks to Girdlestone being the winner last year, Touch Africa starts last of all, and first down the ramp is Pascal Rwiseraka.
Pascal was told to take it easy during the first couple of stages, being just 19 years old and to spare his energy to be able to help the leaders during the hillier stages. That, combined with the fact that his slight build, makes him drop toward the bottom of the results at the end of the day.
No impressive results from the rest of the team until Richard Laizer sets the third fastest time at the line. Sprinters usually perform well in prologues, and Laizer’s form seems to be strong. Promising for the next few days.
The six time winner of the race, Ruhumuriza, rolled over the line in top 10, but at the end of the day he dropped to 12th on the stage, slightly disappointed but only lost 15 seconds to the winner – MTN-Qhubekas John Lee Augustyn. The final rider to start the prologue, Dylan Girdlestone, seems to be off the pace, losing forty five seconds to his countryman Augustyn.
Stage 2
Stage 2, a sprinter’s stage. The plan of the day is to keep Abraham Ruhumuriza safe, and to try and deliver Laizer in a good position to challenge in the sprint.
Instead of chasing all day, Niriniri Rwisereka was sent out in the breakaway of the day. This forced other teams, such as MTN-Qhubeka, to pace the peloton. The rest of the breakaway consisted of various African riders, mostly from national teams, and one European pro, the German Roger Kluge, from IAM Cycling. The breakaway got 6 minutes on the peloton, at the most.
The stage consists of just one mountain price, and ideally it would be nice to have Rwisereka wear that for tomorrow’s stage. With just three hundred meters to the top of the climb, Rwisereka decided to attack, but Kluge and another rider were quick on his wheel.
It turned out to be too long of an attack, a rookie mistake from the young Rwandan, as Kluge managed to pass him with ease with only 50 meters to go, taking the price, and the jersey.
With 30 kilometres to go, the peloton was just a minute behind the breakaway, and ten kilometres later, it was over. Unless a late attack would spoil the day, it was to be the sprinters battling for victory.
With only two teammates capable of helping him in the finish, Richard Laizer fought hard for position, setting himself up in the top twenty with just two kilometres to go, with team mate Dylan Girdlestone in front of him.
Girdlestone managed to get Laizer in a good position during the final few kilometres, and barring crashes, they enter the final kilometre in seventh position, and the sprint is a long straightaway town the main road. With 500 metres to go, Girdlestone swings out with Laizer on his wheel, starting the leadout. Passing almost everyone, with 250 metres to go Laizer launches his sprint.
It’s a well-timed sprint, as Laizer sprints past his rivals, but was it too long a sprint?
No! What a sprint by Richard Laizer, he gets Touch Africas first stage win in this Tour of Rwanda. A good start after a strong team performance, Girdlestone was the first one there to congratulate Laizer after his win.
Speaking with journalist after the stage, Laizer thanked the team and said that he was “very excited to be a part of Touch Africa” and that they can “go very far in the future.” After a solid start to the Tour of Rwanda, the team celebrates their win at the hotel, and despite severe warnings from team owner & director sportif Kelvin and David, three riders sneak out of the hotel after dinner and head into town…
Outside of the hotel Umubano, three young men sneak out to enjoy the town. Richard Laizer, already intoxicated, Dylan Girdlestone and local youngster Jean Bosco Nsengimana walk towards one of the only night clubs in town. The three men are all members of the Touch Africa cycling team, and despite the nine o’clock curfew, they’ve decided to celebrate their win with a brief detour.
Getting to the club, Jean Bosco hesitates.
‘Come on guys, is this really a good idea?’ Dylan slings his arm over Jean Boscos shoulder.
‘Relax, we’ve earned it. It’s the end of the season, just a few days until the off season.’
‘So why don’t we just wait till the Tour is over?’
‘Oh, we’ll party then too, it’s just that now we need to celebrate my win tonight,’ says Richard Laizer, and with that, they walk into the club and order their first beers.
When they sit down at a table, they notice that some people have started looking at them weird, and soon enough, a few people walk towards them from the crowd of people.
‘Trouble?’ whispers Dylan to Jean Bosco, as he knows the place best.
‘No, I don’t think so.’
‘Then what-‘ but he gets no further as one of the strangers sits down at their table and introduces himself as Nathan. He tells them that he’s a huge cycling fan, and that he was at the finish line today. Now, a group has formed around them, and they start getting questions about life in a professional cycling team, how much money they make, if they take on new riders, but most of all, it’s the congratulations to Richard Laizer that occupies their new friends.
After a while, Jean Bosco starts feeling slightly lightheaded, from the crowd, the nervousness of the Tour after a long season, or from the alcohol, he doesn’t know. But he elbows his way towards Richard and Dylan, who are sitting by the bar telling anyone who will listen about their exploits. He has to yell to make himself heard.
‘What, you’re leaving? Come on, Jean! It’s just- What time is it?’ says Richard.
‘Just stay a bit longer, we’re going to join you soon enough,’ says Dylan.
‘I’m sorry guys, I think it’s time to leave. Come on, coach will get mad –‘
‘Coach won’t find out, but if you feel like you need to stop, then hey, don’t let me stop you,’ says Dylan.
‘Well, I do feel that. I’m going back.’
‘Cover for us, if anyone asks, okay? I don’t want to-‘ says Richard.
‘I’m no snitch.’
‘That’s not what I said-‘
‘That’s what you implied.’
Jean Bosco gets home to the hotel in one piece, and meets no one on his way to the room, and falls straight into bed, without even taking his clothes off. Before he falls asleep, he notices that the clock is 02.21.
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