14.05.12

Jelajah Malaysia - Stage 6 - A lack of manpower meant the final stage of Jelajah Malaysia has ended uneventfully for the three remaining PureBlack Racing riders hoping to shake up the standing in the final kilometers of the stage.

Pure Black Racing

“The boys kept to a plan for the whole stage,” said Director Sportif, John “Harry” Harris, “they managed to split the field in half but just got in the wrong position towards the end.”

“We were expecting a much bigger climb but it didn’t feature at all,” said team captain, Roman van Uden, “this was where we really wanted to launch an attack but it wasn’t steep enough, it was quite an uneventful stage.”

“We were heavily marked today,” said Harry, “and the peloton was very well controlled by the big teams looking for the yellow jersey, and today we just didn’t have the numbers.”

Despite the frustrating stage, PureBlack Racing dug deep, and with only three riders racing the final four stages, taking 5th in the overall team GC was a testament to the determination of the riders.

The highest place rider from PureBlack Racing was Michael Torckler who finished 8th in the individual GC. Michael was unable to make any inroads on the 2:46 deficit inflicted on the second stage, finishing the last four stages with the same aggregate time as yellow jersey winner Yusup Abrekov from Uzbekistan Suren Team.

With Louis Crosby, and Shem Rodgers crashing out of the race in Stage 2, Jelajah Malaysia did not quite go to plan for PureBlack Racing. With the remainder of the team, Roman, Michael and James Williamson, involved in a crash in Stage 5, the team was unable to make a dent on the GC deficit with their options limited to just three riders.

“We were lucky,” said Harry, “They sustained no serious injuries and have come off pretty lightly.”

The team has now wrapped up their final race in Asia and arrives home on Thursday for some well deserved rest, before heading off to the next racing stint for 2012.

AVANTI RIDERS