ProTouch kicks off first UCI tour event with a bang
While the Mpumalanga Tour served as a warm-up, the Tropicale Amissa Bongo is the ProTouch Continental Team's first UCI 2.1 Africa Tour event.
ProTouch Cycling got their first UCI 2.1 Africa Tour event, the Tropicale Amissa Bongo, under way yesterday, placing inside the Top 10 teams for the first stage.
ProTouch Cycling’s new Continental Team found themselves lining up alongside four top Pro Continental Teams and 10 African National Teams yesterday, for the start of the Tropicale Amissa Bongo.
The ProTouch team, which comprised Pieter Seyffert, Reynard Butler, Songezo Jim, Mitch Eliot (U/23), Jaydé Julius and Rohan du Plooy, came up against many a famous name during the first stage, including but not limited to legendary German cyclist André Greipel, who holds 11 stage victories in the Tour de France, 10 in the Tour of Italy and four in the Tour of Spain. “ProTouch is excited to be participating in the 2019 Tropicale Amissa Bongo alongside such big names,” said Tony Harding, ProTouch’s Team Principal prior to the start of the race. “It will be our first 2.1 Africa Tour event and a great learning opportunity for our riders to see the level of racing required to compete.”
ProTouch managed to kick the tour off on a positive note in the first stage with Rohan du Plooy – who won the green jersey on the Mpumalanga Tour – managing to earn himself a highly respectable seventh place in the stage to stand at ninth on the general classification standings. The rest of ProTouch’s Elite Men’s Team really pulled up their socks for the first stage as well, with the team members finding themselves in eighth place in the team rankings.
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