Weather-beaten, but certainly not defeated
Rupert Guinness
March 24, 2012 - 9:37AM
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AS soon as the fog and rain fell over the Volta a Catalunya in Spain
on Wednesday, the hopes of Daniel Teklehaimanot finishing started to
diminish.
As Teklehaimanot, whose 190-centimetre frame has body fat of only 3
per cent in the off-season, conceded to the Herald recently when asked
about his reported dislike of cold-weather racing: ''When I first came
to Europe it was hard, especially with the weather - it was cold. I
prefer warm weather.''
To be fair, many others could not handle the weather on Wednesday,
that struck the race finishing tomorrow. Ultimately, heavy snow
blocked the finish on the Porte Aine climb and forced organisers to
halt the 210.9-kilometre stage after 155km, just 10km from the top of
the scheduled second last climb.
Teklehaimanot was one of 34 who abandoned the stage, while another
five did not start.
It could easily have been taken as a disheartening end to the
23-year-old's first appearance for the new Australian GreenEDGE team,
that began under the sun on Monday's first stage with his 67th place
where Swiss teammate
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/sport/cycling/weatherbeaten-but-certainly-not-defeated-20120323-1vpc1.html
Weather-beaten, but certainly not defeated
March 24, 2012
Michael Albasini won. But for Teklehaimanot, his debut was anything
but a failure.
As the first Eritrean to race in a top division team, the sight of him
riding elbow-to-elbow in the World Tour peloton was a big step
forward; especially shortly before his he quit on Wednesday when,
under the order and encouragement of GreenEDGE sports director Neil
Stephens, he weaved his way through the patchwork of a tightly-knit
peloton and found his way at the front of it. ''He was on the front
for about 20km setting the pace,'' GreenEDGE general manager Shayne
Bannan told the Herald. ''Not that it was really needed. But Neil felt
it was more for confidence; so that he felt a part of the race, that
he had an objective and could get into race mode, as opposed to
sitting at the back thinking, 'Geez, do I deserve to be here?' or of
the insecurities that come with that."''
But Teklehaimanot, who with his 11 siblings (six sisters and five
brothers) was raised on his parents' farm near the market town of
Debarwa, 25km south of the Eritrean capital of Asmara, has embraced
the challenge.
''It's great to be in a ProTeam in its first year,'' he said. ''It's
been my dream to [ride] at the top level as a professional. It's been
a big jump to the professionals, but I have always wanted to be
[racing] with the good riders.''
Teklehaimanot began cycling in 2005 as a mountain biker. But it was
when he placed fifth overall in the 2008 Tour of the Ivory Coast, that
he was invited to join the Union Cycliste Internationale's World
Cycling Centre in Aigle, Switzerland, that exists to develop cycling
in underprivileged nations such as Eritrea, which gained independence
from Ethiopia in 1993 after a 30-year civil war.
A strong climber and time trialist, Teklehaimanot has long excelled in
Africa, winning the African road championship in 2010 and time trial
title in 2010 and last year. He was also Eritrean champion on the road
in 2008. He has fared well internationally despite an operation in
2009 when diagnosed with tachycardia. In the same year, he was sixth
overall in the Tour de l'Avenir in France and won a stage in the
Under-23 Nations Cup in Canada. He then won the 2010 Tour of Rwanda
and last year's Kwita Izina tour with wins in three stages and first
place overall.
Upon signing with GreenEDGE, Teklehaimanot was pegged sixth among
their 30 riders on accrued world ranking points - a valuable
contribution, considering one criterion for a team to earn a ProTeam
licence for the World Tour is the sporting value that includes the
points of their first 15 riders.
Bannan says Teklehaimanot needs to develop his technique, positioning,
tactics, nutritional knowledge and physical development, especially
core strength. There is also the matter of language skills.
Teklehaimanot's mother tongue is Tigrinya, a Semitic language that
will serve little on the World Tour. His command of English is
improving, but it is still limited, although, as Australian teammate
Baden Cooke discovered when he and his wife hosted Teklehaimanot on
Christmas Day, it was not for lack of trying. ''I first took him to my
parents in Benalla,'' Cooke said. ''Then on Christmas Day, we rode
down the Hume Highway towards Melbourne to my wife's family. He really
enjoyed it.''
Did he teach him any Australian phrases? ''I taught him a few,'' Cooke
said, smiling.
Twitter- _at_rupertguinness
This story was found at:
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/sport/cycling/weatherbeaten-but-certainly-not-defeated-20120323-1vpc1.html
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Received on Sat Mar 24 2012 - 22:18:08 EDT
