Tessa O'Hara
Marketing Communications
CSC Computer Sciences (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd
Tel: +27 21 529 6500
> Email
Debbie Owen
Do Communicate
Tel: +27 21 788 9962
> Email
News Release-- March 12, 2007
Gutsy CSC/Marcello performances result in Track and Giro successes
Supported by a young and determined CSC/Marcello team, cyclist David George yesterday (Sunday, 11 March) celebrated a third place in the Giro del Capo - and the honour of being the top-ranked South African in the prestigious six-day UCI-ranked event.
On Saturday, George won the penultimate and fourth stage of the Giro - a 5.5 km time trail on Signal Hill - for the fourth time, proving just why local fans had dubbed him ‘King George’.
“When David, a former three-times winner of the Giro del Capo, signed up as a guest rider for CSC/Marcello a few weeks ago, all we could promise him was that we’d give him our all; that we would ‘do it for the King,’” said Chris Willemse Snr, Team CSC/Marcello manager.
“We are therefore immensely proud of our Giro performances, particularly since we beat other big name South African riders to the winners’ podium.”
Willemse Snr said it was clear from the start of the Giro that his young team would face rather tough competition. “But what we lacked in experience and numbers, we made up for in guts and determination,” he said.
Willemse Snr believes the performances of CSC/Marcello rider Jeremy Maartens – who came third in the Giro’s tough third stage, which includes the steep Vissershok, Malanshoogte, Contermanskloof and Tiekiedraai climbs – and those of his teammates Travys Wilkins, Abdelbasset Hannachi and Gilbert Quevauvilliers have confirmed Team CSC/Marcello’s place on the map of South African cycling.
Willemse Snr had been less optimistic about his team’s Giro chances a few weeks ago when two of his more experienced Giro riders, Chris Willemse Jnr and Garth Thomas, had to withdraw in order to represent South Africa in the international Tri-Nations track event on March 9, 2007.
Sacrificing Giro glory, Willemse Jnr and Thomas, the reigning South African Madison Champions, pinned their hopes on winning the prestigious Madison event last Friday.
Their strongest competition was expected to come from former World Champion track cyclists, Bruno Rissi and Franco Marvulli, and the duo of Danny Stam and Peter Schepp, the current World Points Track Champion.
With 20 laps to go in the Madison, Willemse and Rissi crashed and while Rissi stood within seconds, it seemed the badly-injured Willemse Jnr’s race was over.
Ignoring the pain and cheered on by the crowd, Willemse Jnr joined a determined Thomas – who’d been racing solo for more than two laps - on the track and together they went on to win the prestigious Madison event – and the hearts and respect of many cycling fans.
The South African team placed second overall in the Tri-Nations event.
ABOUT CSC IN SOUTH AFRICA
CSC offers the South African market a wide range of services, including systems integration, applications and infrastructure outsourcing, and business process outsourcing (BPO), as well as financial services solutions.
In South Africa, CSC also provides BPO services to manage the policy processing and administration for US and UK financial services customers, which include banking, short-term insurance, and life and pensions providers. CSC opened its doors in South Africa in November 1999 and today has offices in Johannesburg and Cape Town. For more information, contact 021 529 6500 or 011 612 5400.
ABOUT CSC
Computer Sciences Corporation is a leading global information technology (IT) services company. CSC’s mission is to provide customers in industry and government with solutions crafted to meet their specific challenges and enable them to profit from the advanced use of technology.
With approximately 77,000 employees, CSC provides innovative solutions for customers around the world by applying leading technologies and CSC’s own advanced capabilities. These include systems design and integration; IT and business process outsourcing; applications software development; Web and application hosting; and management consulting. Headquartered in El Segundo, Calif., CSC reported revenue of $14.7 billion for the 12 months ended Dec. 29, 2006. For more information, visit the company’s Web site at www.csc.com.