ProTouch continue their search for victory in Portugal
ProTouch expected the same type of racing as Stage 1 with riders being dropped out the back, but the Honeydew-based team kept Kent Main and Rohan Du Plooy in the front.
On Wednesday, June 23, ProTouch Continental Cycling – South Africa took on stage one of Volta ao Alentejo with 194,5km on the cards for Africa’s number one team and the start of their Europe Tour.
In stage two of the tour, ProTouch were expecting the same type of racing as stage one with riders being dropped out the back, but the Honeydew-based team kept Kent Main and Rohan du Plooy in the front.
At the end, the team came home with the peloton and looked forward to the harder stages that were still to come.
In stage three of Volta ao Alentejo, Portugal saw ProTouch’s race plan to have representation in the breakaway.
The team was very active in following all the moves and creating them as well, and after a couple of attempts by the team to form a break, the one that was successful was the three-man break of the day including Callum Ormiston and Tiano da Silva.
They quickly got an advantage of more than six minutes and managed to adjust their game plan; unfortunately their compatriot from team Fortuna dropped off half way up one of the steep climbs.
At 40km from the finish, Tiano felt that it was better to do one or two more big efforts, and set Callum up for a lone ride to victory.
Callum had been in a break for 158km, but the peloton made no errors. For the final sprint Rohan was in the peloton and ProTouch’s hopes shifted to him.
But lady luck hasn’t found Portugal yet because he was caught up in a crash 500m before the line.
