Written by Sean Badenhorst [148 hits]
 MTN Energade team captain, Nicholas White, won the penultimate stage of the Tour of Morocco, which finished in Casablanca on Sunday, in the process securing the prestigious International Cycling Union (UCI) Africa Tour title for 2007/2008.
The overall winner of the Tour of Morocco in 2007, White was unable to reach the final podium this year, eventually finishing sixth in a strong field, which included some European-based Continental teams.
But while they failed to retain White’s individual title, his MTN Energade team still left the north African country with an armful of spoils. Malcolm Lange won three stages and the overall Points Competition, White won a stage and finished second in the King of the Mountains Competition and the team won the Team Competition.
Newly-crowned South African road champion, Ian McLeod was the team’s top finisher, ending the 14-stage, 10-day tour in third place overall, 4min20sec behind the 2008 champion, Russian Alexey Shchebelin (Cinelli OPD). McLeod’s teammate and last year’s runner-up, Neil MacDonald, was fourth.
Nicholas White won a stage and finished sixth overall at the Tour of Morocco, securing the white UCI Africa Tour jersey for 2007/2008
But the main prize for White and his team was sealing the win in the Africa Tour, a continental series comprising 25 events in various countries and running from October through to the following September.
White started his assault on the 2007/2008 Africa Tour with maximum points when he won the Continental road and time trial titles in Cameroon last November. He then finished fourth at the Tour of Gabon in January and collected more valuable points at the Intaka Tech World’s View Challenge races in February with a few more points coming at the SA Road Championships in May. With only two of the events remaining on the current UCI Africa Tour calendar, White’s points lead is enough to secure him the coveted white winner’s jersey.
“It would have been better if I’d been able to defend my Tour of Morocco title, but I wasn’t at peak form coming into the race following a bit of illness leading up the event,” explained White. “I really suffered on the third stage and lost time which I was just never able to make up in this quality field.
Our other main goal was to ensure I maintained my lead in the Africa Tour, which I did and that’s important for our team and our main sponsor, MTN, which has a large presence in Africa
For McLeod, finishing on the final podium was another confidence booster as he returns to peak health following a string of serious injuries over the past three years.
“It feels good to finish on a stage-race podium,” said McLeod. “My form is pretty good, but our main aim was to try and get Nic to win. Some of the stages were quite hard, but unfortunately the big climbs weren’t near the end of those stages, which would have suited us better.”
2008 Tour of Morocco
Leading results after final stage
General Classification
1 Alexey Shchebelin (Cinelli OPD – RUS) 33hr30min48sec
2 Slawomie Kohut (Amore & Vita – POL) @ 2:40
3 Ian McLeod (MTN Energade – RSA) @ 4:20
4 Neil MacDonald (MTN Energade – RSA) @ 4:48
5 Ivalo Gabrovski (Amore & Vita – BUL) @ 4:54
Points Competition
1 Malcolm Lange (MTN Energade – RSA) 87 points
2 Adam Wadecki (Amore & Vita – POL) 62
3 Ivan Fanelli (Cinelli OPD – ITA) 59
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