DMS & Co Race to Comprehensive Old Mutual Wealth Double Century Victory

[News bot]

The 2023 Old Mutual Wealth Double Century took place in warm conditions, from Swellendam, on Saturday, 25 November. A steady, if not stiff, headwind made record and personal best chasing difficult, but did not stifle the racing. DMS & Co went out fast and overcame punctures to key riders to win the title in commanding fashion. Paceline won the women’s race, while Private Client Holdings raced to a stellar third place overall, en route to victory in the mixed category. The 202 kilometre route, which is raced in a team time trial format, took 260 teams and 2 780 riders […]

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[Jbr]

What a ride from PCH, seconds away from 2nd overall with a mixed team 😮😮

[Titleist]

I saw quite a number of teams not actually following the race TTT format, including some podium finishers. You know who you are…..

[peetwindhoek]

6 hours ago, Titleist said:

I saw quite a number of teams not actually following the race TTT format, including some podium finishers. You know who you are…..

Did you report it to officials?

[babse]

9 hours ago, Titleist said:

I saw quite a number of teams not actually following the race TTT format, including some podium finishers. You know who you are…..

*Every year except when fastest went first. 

 

No getting around it in current format!

[z@z@]

4 hours ago, babse said:

*Every year except when fastest went first. 

 

No getting around it in current format!

It felt like we went first , not one caught us  no-slip.

[throttles]

Well done to all that participated.

@z@z@ where did you get them pichas?

[z@z@]

1 hour ago, throttles said:

Well done to all that participated.

@z@z@ where did you get them pichas?

They bragging about it on their statuses 😂

Edited November 27, 2023 by z@z@

[z@z@]

10 hours ago, peetwindhoek said:

Did you report it to officials?

FYI : there was only ONE road official , watching all the possible podium finishers. 
 

 

 

[Shebeen]

11 hours ago, z@z@ said:

It felt like we went first , not one caught us  no-slip.

is that the actual race or just a group ride? If the latter, who is overtaking who?

[Niyaazsol]

1 hour ago, Shebeen said:

is that the actual race or just a group ride? If the latter, who is overtaking who?

Seems like a group ride within an actual race to me and clearly nobody is overtaking but rather working together.

[Mayo916]

I saw the 2nd and 3rd mixed teams also helping each other with some slip. They should be more strict, especially for those riding for the podium. The honesty system clearly does not work.

['Dale]

The DC is about team spirit, camaraderie and ‘gees’ and the ultimate price of earning the Charles Milner award by finishing with 12 souls with ordinary athletic capabilities.

 If ever there is a pic that captures this magic of solidarity, this is it; these bras 😄

[bleedToWin]

We (Wine Lands Mixed) caught the Hit Squad early and they immediately sat slip.

PCH caught us but came over our paceline and sat up so we tried overtaking again or at least sharing the road. Wasn't really working so we opted to sit 20m behind them. This worked for a good long while until after Tradouw descent where we had a mechanical to a key rider. The whole time we had Hit Squad in our slip.

After the mechanical we were able to ride freely until feedzone 1. Halfway towards feedzone 2 we had 3 teams in our wake and got caught by Savage with 4 teams in their wake. As others have said, the event format makes this unavoidable. Mixed teams have to apply their power at specific areas in the race in order to not burn their ladies. Overtaking was not an option. Dropping off simply resulted in us needing to pass teams dropping from Savage on the climbs and then they latch on to us to reform the mass on the descent. It was impossible to get anything going. Should we have given up our race?

I don't like this aspect of the race. As lame as it is it is allowed in the rules, but it certainly was not a loophole exploited by us intentionally. I do understand that others will feel differently about how things played out. Last year I was in a mens team and our seeding resulted in us never getting caught by a stronger team so we had a clean ride for 9th. I was proud of that one, and I am proud of this one too...

The womens category is these days able to run without interference and the mens too. Perhaps if not possible for the mixed category (and in light of the winners nearly coming 2nd in overall!) it would be best to only have two competitive categories... 🤷‍♂️
 

Quote

 

For practical purposes we will be lenient in the following areas:

a. Dropped riders who are not with the leading six of the team may slipstream another team but only if that team gives permission.

b. From Montagu through the pass to Ashton (just before the first Team Support Zone) and from Rooibrug to the second Team Support Zone, where the road is narrow and lots of teams (including non-racing) converge, it may not be practical to avoid slipstreaming without slowing down.

 

 

[mecheng89]

On 11/27/2023 at 5:20 AM, z@z@ said:

It felt like we went first , not one caught us  no-slip.

I didn't know WvA pitched to do the DC. 

[Jbr]

16 minutes ago, bleedToWin said:

We (Wine Lands Mixed) caught the Hit Squad early and they immediately sat slip.

PCH caught us but came over our paceline and sat up so we tried overtaking again or at least sharing the road. Wasn't really working so we opted to sit 20m behind them. This worked for a good long while until after Tradouw descent where we had a mechanical to a key rider. The whole time we had Hit Squad in our slip.

After the mechanical we were able to ride freely until feedzone 1. Halfway towards feedzone 2 we had 3 teams in our wake and got caught by Savage with 4 teams in their wake. As others have said, the event format makes this unavoidable. Mixed teams have to apply their power at specific areas in the race in order to not burn their ladies. Overtaking was not an option. Dropping off simply resulted in us needing to pass teams dropping from Savage on the climbs and then they latch on to us to reform the mass on the descent. It was impossible to get anything going. Should we have given up our race?

I don't like this aspect of the race. As lame as it is it is allowed in the rules, but it certainly was not a loophole exploited by us intentionally. I do understand that others will feel differently about how things played out. Last year I was in a mens team and our seeding resulted in us never getting caught by a stronger team so we had a clean ride for 9th. I was proud of that one, and I am proud of this one too...

The womens category is these days able to run without interference and the mens too. Perhaps if not possible for the mixed category (and in light of the winners nearly coming 2nd in overall!) it would be best to only have two competitive categories... 🤷‍♂️
 

 

Yeah... one of the reasons why I don't like this race. Had a lot more fun when we did Race of Truth even if we had similar problems at the begining, but it didn't last for 200km

Edited November 28, 2023 by Jbr