23.03.2010

World Cycling Centre (WCC) trainee, the Eritrean Daniel Teklehaimanot, left his mark on the roads of Alsace at the weekend when he won the Grand Prix des Carreleurs.

Daniel Teklehaimanot, training for the second year at the WCC in Aigle, Switzerland, easily won the race, completing the last seven laps around Ernolsheim-sur-Bruche solo.

His victory in France is testimony to his rapid progress since joining the WCC at the beginning of 2009. He joined the centre’s training programme after being spotted by WCC coach Michel Thèze at the African Continental Championships in Morocco at the end of 2008.

For Michel Thèze, the athlete’s progress is more than could have been hoped for: “I saw him in Morocco and I liked what I saw, the way he rode, his morphology. So we invited him to come and train at the WCC. His progress was rapid and he finished last season with a 6th placing in the Tour de l’Avenir.”

After a break over winter in his own country, the 22-year-old rider returned to the WCC in February this year. He had lost some of his physical shape due, according to his coach, to inappropriate winter training. “When he arrived back at the centre, we were a bit worried about his physical shape. But he got down to work and in just a few weeks he had again made enormous progress. He doesn’t complain, he gets on with it, even when he finds it hard going.”

The Eritrean is an all-round rider and very strong when the course is tough. However, he lacks certain tactical skills and agility in the peloton when the riders are elbow to elbow.

That experience, he can only find by racing. And the next race is this weekend, the 26th – 28th March at the Troféu Cidade da Guarda-GP Portugal, the first round of the 2010 UCI Under-23 Nations Cup. Daniel Teklehaimanot and his fellow WCC trainees will be there.