On the 5th of August our 6 riders and 2 team managers made their way down to White River, Mpumalanga for the annual edition of the Mpumalanga Tour hosted by HA Toere. What is normally a 3 and a half hour drive from Pretoria turned into a 6 hour long trip (thanks Bokke supporters!) nevertheless everyone arrived safe and sound and began preparing for the 5 day tour which would begin the next day.
Going into the tour, the team had their sights set on the white jersey for rider Kimhan van der Merwe, the green jersey for Dirkie Nel and the General Classification for Jaco van Dyk with David Maree, Nicholas James and Keanan Roodt working as domestiques. With a total of 22 riders, and the 4 major Johannesburg teams being represented, we knew this goal would be a tough yet attainable one.
Stage one, which was 112Km, began and ended in White River. From as early as stage 1, Team DMS was represented in the major Hot Spot and King of the Mountain classifications, making the goal of the green jersey for Dirkie Nel a very real realisation. An early injury for Jaco van Dyk and a mechanical for Nicholas James could still not keep the team down as we sailed for a second place stage finish with Jaco on the first day. After day 1, Team DMS were sitting pretty with Jaco van Dyk in second and Dirkie Nel in fourth on the General Classification, Jaco second in points and Kimhan fourth in the white jersey.
Stage 2 saw the riders take on the queen stage. With 141Km and 3447m of climbing, the riders were in for a rough day in the saddle. Our rider Jaco van Dyk began the stage in the green jersey which had been passed down from Marc Pritzen from Team Honeycomb Pro Cycling who would be in the yellow jersey. Barry Crouch and Jaedon Terlouw from Team Cyclepower wore the polka dot jersey and white jersey respectively. We ended stage 2 with another second place finish for Jaco van Dyk, temporarily solidifying his place on the GC category.
The team tactics for stage 3 saw our team attacking straight from the gun. This seemed to work in our favour as Dirkie Nel and Nicholas James received a stage victory and second place finish respectively. However, rider Jaco van Dyk had lost a considerable amount of time on this stage changing his general classification position from 2nd to fourth. It was during this stage that it was decided the white jersey was out of our sites and all team members focus was to be placed on helping Jaco van Dyk on the general classification category.
Stage 4 saw our first transfer in the race as we began in Mbombela, Nelspruit and ended in Badplaas. Riders were up early on this day to make the journey from White River to Nelspruit. With stage 5 starting in Badplaas and ending in Middelburg.
Over the last 2 days of the tour the team rode their hearts out for Jaco van Dyk and he was able to claw his way back up to second on the General Classification. While we did not receive the outright victory we had hoped for, the team still managed to ride away with some amazing results; second on the general classification category, second and third on the overall points category and even a stage win.
Overall this was a tour of second placings, with 2nd on GC and points and second on 5 out of the 5 stages (however with a stage win thrown in there).
We learnt some valuable lessons over this tour, the team really bonded and learnt what it meant to be a team and ride like a team. We hope to take these lessons into the remainder of the season and reach our first tour victory in the upcoming Tour du Noord.
(from right; vice minister of recreation, sports and culture, Jaedon Terlouw in 5th, Brandon Downes in 3rd, Marc Pritzen in first, Jaco van Dyk in second and Jason Eggott in 4th)
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