CULOZ, France // Jarlinson Pantano finally provided some joy for Colombia at the Tour de France by winning Sunday’s 15th stage.
The country’s top rider Nairo Quintana has been strangely out of sorts over the Tour’s first two weeks, and sits fourth overall at 2min 59sec behind race leader Chris Froome.
But there was celebration after Pantano outsprinted Poland’s Rafal Majka to win the 160km mountainous stage from Bourg en Bresse to Culoz.
“This is incredible. It’s a dream come true,” he said.
“I came to the Tour de France for that, but I didn’t believe it could happen. I’m very happy.”
The 27-year-old rider had proved last month he was in good shape by finishing fourth at the Tour of Switzerland.
And while Majka seemed the stronger climber on a day that included six categorised ascents, Pantano’s descending skills proved crucial.
He was dropped by Majka on both the last two climbs of the day, but each time closed the gap on the descent.
Behind, the Tour favourites spent the day marking each other and there was no change to the overall positions, with Dutchman Bauke Mollema remaining second at 1:47 and young Briton Adam Yates third at 2:45.
Froome said he was in control and said he was surprised that no-one attacked.
“I was surprised that we weren’t more attacked out there,” the 31-year-old Briton said.
“I really thought today’s stage was a perfect opportunity for the other teams to put us under pressure, especially with [his Sky teammate] Geraint Thomas getting a puncture on the second last climb out there – we were one man down.”
The only change in the top 10 saw American Tejay Van Garderen dropped on the final climb and lose almost a minute and a half, dropping from sixth overall to eighth.
A 30-man group got clear of the peloton on the opening first category climb of the day inside 20km.
It broke up on the hors category Grand Colombier climb inside the final 60km, with 13 riders left at the front, 8:30 ahead of the peloton.
Russian Ilnur Zakarin and Majka went clear on the first of two climbs up the Grand Colombier and pulled out a gap of more than a minute.
The peloton had closed to 7:45 by the summit of the Grand Colombier but it was clear the stage victory would be decided up front.
Pantano and Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe caught the front two on the mountain’s descent, 42km from the finish.
But as it happened, Zakarin was dropped – the Russian, who crashed badly in May’s Giro d’Italia, was simply more circumspect than his fellow escapees on the fast descent.
Alaphilippe’s hopes were destroyed by a problem with his bike, leaving him stranded on the side of the road as Pantano and Majka soldiered on.
The front two had a lead of just over 30sec by the start of the the second, shorter climb of the Grand Colombier, by a different route known as the ‘laces’, with the peloton 6:40 down.
Majka managed to drop Pantano with 18km left and went over the top with a 24sec lead over Switzerland’s Sebastien Reichenbach and the Colombian.
Majka almost lost all hope of victory when he briefly went off the road on the descent, 11km out from the finish.
And it cost him as he was caught by Pantano a couple of kilometres later.
Two kilometres from the end the two leaders had 16sec on the chasing pair of Reichenbach and Frenchman Alexis Vuillermoz.
They started playing cat and mouse in the final kilometre but had just enough room to contest the sprint before Vuillermoz beat Reichenbach for third.
Results from Stage 15
1. Jarlinson Pantano (Colombia / IAM Cycling) 4:24:49”
2. Rafal Majka (Poland / Tinkoff) ST
3. Alexis Vuillermoz (France / AG2R) +6”
4. Sebastien Reichenbach (Switzerland / FDJ)
5. Julian Alaphilippe (France / Etixx - Quick-Step) +22”
6. Serge Pauwels (Belgium / Dimension Data) +25”
7. Pierre Rolland (France / Cannondale)
8. Ilnur Zakarin (Russia / Katusha) +1:30”
9. Daniel Navarro (Spain / Cofidis)
10. Tom-Jelte Slagter (Netherlands / Cannondale) +2:08”
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October 23
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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