Welcome to another Mixed Championship. Today riders from Algeria, Morrocco and Namibia will contest 51km on the Hills route. 14 riders fighting hard for that prestigious NC jersey.
An attack comes straight off the line, as you might expect. Hamza (AEG) heads away with Barbari (KDD), Ben Youcef (LPM), Haddi (GRE) and Ait el Abdia (LPM).
Hamza, Barbari and Ben Youcef will fight for the Algerian title. Haddi and Ait el Abdia will fight for the Morroccan title.
No Namibian attaced the race, so we will need to monitor the peloton closely and hope they can reach the finish.
And thus no chase formed. Luckily one plucky soul was put in by the MGUCI to keep a pace in the peloton and prevent them being eliminated.
But back at the breakaway....
Ait El Abdia wins the Morroccan title and overall race in the uphill sprint. Barbari wins the Algerian title behind the two Morroccons.
Costa Seibeb claims the Namibian title from the peloton.
Well in the ITT there were clear favorites for the Algerian and Namibian titles, did they deliver?
Faycal Hamza wins the Algerian title, as expected. Over 2'00 ahead of his closest rival, wasn't even a contest.
Lotto Petrus wins the Namibian title, as expected. Over 2'00 ahead of his closest rival, wasn't even a contest. But he did edge out Hamza for the overall race win.
But the Morroccon race, that was exciting.
Mohamed Er Rafai was the early pace setter in that competition. A good time that was 2'36 off the overall winner Petrus.
Salah Eddine Mraouni came out and went 1" quicker that the mid-way point! Could he hand on to that slender lead?
NO!
Mraouni ends with the same time as Er Rafai, 2'36 behind Petrus. But the WCC is judged as being quicker by a slender 0.4 seconds... what a win for Mraouni!
