Namibian professional cyclist Dan Craven managed to garner a not-so-disappointing overall 5th place finish at the highly competitive Tour du Maroc and as a result he maintained his lead on the International Cycling Union (UCI) Africa Rankings. The ten-stage tour was won by French rider, Julien Loubet, with the 2nd place going to Mouhssine Lahsaini from Morocco. Craven finished four minutes and four seconds behind the winner and was chosen second best African rider during the course of the tour. Craven had a strong start into the tour and managed to form part of the deciding breakaways on the first days. As a result he was placed in second overall position after stage three, only 38 seconds down on the leader. This however resulted in him being a marked man on stage 4 and any break-away attempt was immediately countered by the opposing teams.
Craven and his ‘Bike Aid – Ride for Help’ team however decided to continue with an aggressive race strategy.
This strategy paid off for Craven when he managed to escape with a break-away group on stage 5 and to finish the stage almost 5 minutes ahead of the main field of riders. With this exceptional effort, Craven moved back up into the top ten, lying 8th on the overall classification. Stage 6 started with a big scare for Craven when he was involved in an accident resulting in various bruises on his body, as well as a broken bike. Luckily a spare bicycle was at hand for Craven to continue the race.
After changing bikes with a teammate later during the stage, Craven was able to finish the stage strong and reached the finish in a small break-away group almost two minutes ahead of the main field. Craven’s injuries from the accident significantly impacted his performance on the remaining stages, but excellent support from his team and consistent performance provided Craven with a top 5 finish in the general classification.
Next stop for Craven and his ‘Bike Aid -Ride for Help’ team is the 190km Arno Wallaard race in Netherlands this coming Friday, followed by the 200km Rund um Köln race in Germany on Monday.
