Penultimate stage promises big battle
Approximately 24 hours after D’Angelo & Antenucci-Nippo rider Davide Torosantucci soled to success in the Tour of South Africa, his team-mate Bernardo Riccio made it two in a row for the squad when he was first to the line in Barrydale. The Italian was helped by his team in the lead-up to the big bunch sprint, then thundered home ahead of Daryl Impey (MTN Qhubeka), Christoff Van Heerden (MTN Qhubeka) and stage three winner Yohann Gene (Team Europcar).
“I was 7th in the final sharp turn with 850 meters to go, then felt strong when the sprint started,” he said, beaming after taking his first victory since 2008. “I am very happy with the win and the way the team chased.”
Race leader Kristian House also finished in the group, and with his team successfully controlling the day’s break, he moved within two stages of taking the overall victory in the 2.2-ranked race. “Today worked out perfectly for us,” he said afterwards, gradually getting increasingly confident about his prospects.
As has been the case on other days, a break went clear early on and tried to build a sufficient advantage to stay clear. Six riders were present, and Jeremy Maartens (DCM), Tyler Day (Bonitas), Estifanos Gebresilassie (UCI African Team, pictured), Clint Hendricks (Tasol-GT), Frank Dressler-Lehnhof (Team Differdange-Magic-Sportfood.de) and Gregory Habeaux (Veranda’s Willems-Accent) rode hard.
Gebresilassie picked up the day’s mountains prime at Houwhoek Pass, while Maartens and Day were first to the sprint points at Calitzdorp and Ladismith respectively. That and the publicity generated by their escape was the only reward, though, as the bunch relentlessly bore down on them.
Maartens and Habeaux persisted longest, striking out together, but they took were caught with seven kilometres to go by the MTN-Qhubeka-led peloton. They were trying to set things up for Impey and Van Heerden, but Riccio was stronger than both and reached the line first.
Tomorrow’s penultimate stage is likely to have a big effect on the general classification, and House knows that he has a fight to defend his lead of two minutes 22 seconds over Daryl Impey (MTN Qhubeka), Johann Rabie (Team Bonitas), Jacques Janse Van Rensburg (Burgos 2016 – Castilla y León), David George (360 Life), Perrig Quemeneur (Team Europcar) and Thomas Degand (Veranda’s Willems – Accent).
The battleground will feature four categorised climbs and it’s certain that attacks will be fired off from the start to the finish in Stellenbosch. “We have a plan, we definitely have a plan for tomorrow,” said House, who will do all he can to retain yellow at this crucial point.
(Thanks to Xylon Van Eyck for his input into this report)
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Tour of South Africa (2.2), Feb 19 – 26:
February 24, Stage 5: Oudtshoorn – Barrydale:
1, Bernardo Riccio (d’Angelo & Antenucci – Nippo) 175 kilometres in 4 hours 34 mins 4 secs
2, Daryl Impey (MTN Qhubeka)
3, Christoff Van Heerden (MTN Qhubeka)
4, Yohann Gene (Team Europcar)
5, Herman Fouche (DCM)
6, Arran Brown (MTN Qhubeka)
7, Jean-Pierre Drucker (Veranda’s Willems – Accent)
8, Oscar Grau (Burgos 2016 – Castilla y León)
9, Tomas Smolen (CCC Polsat Polkowice)
10, Alexey Shmidt (Team Type 1 – Sanofi Aventis)
11, André Schulze (CCC Polsat Polkowice)
12, Martijn Verschoor (Team Type 1 – Sanofi Aventis)
13, Abdelati Saadoune (Morocco)
14, Milan Kadlec (Czech Republic)
15, Soufiane Haddi (Morocco) all same time
Intermediate sprint at Calitzdorp:
1, Jeremy Maartens (DCM) 5 pts
2, Tyler Day (Team Bonitas) 3
3, Gregory Habeaux (Veranda’s Willems – Accent) 1
Intermediate sprint at Ladismith:
1, Tyler Day (Team Bonitas) 5 pts
2, Frank Dressler-Lehnhof (Team Differdange – Magic-Sportfood.de) 3
3, Gregory Habeaux (Veranda’s Willems – Accent) 1
KOM prime at Houwhoek Pass:
1, Estifanos Gebresilassie (UCI African Team) 10 pts
2, Frank Dressler-Lehnhof (Team Differdange – Magic-Sportfood.de) 8
3, Tyler Day (Team Bonitas) 6
Teams:
1, MTN Qhubeka, 13 hours 42 mins 12 secs
2, Team Type 1 – Sanofi Aventis
3, Morocco
4, CCC Polsat Polkowice
5, Rapha Condor – Sharp
6, Burgos 2016 – Castilla y León
General classification after stage 5:
1, Kristian House (Rapha Condor – Sharp) 15 hours 52 mins 18 secs
2, Daryl Impey (MTN Qhubeka) at 2 mins 22 secs
3, Johann Rabie (Team Bonitas)
4, Jacques Janse Van Rensburg (Burgos 2016 – Castilla y León)
5, David George (360 Life)
6, Perrig Quemeneur (Team Europcar)
7, Thomas Degand (Veranda’s Willems – Accent)
8, Jonathan Tiernan-Locke (Rapha Condor – Sharp) at 2 mins 25 secs
9, Kévin Reza (Team Europcar) at 3 mins
10, Darren Lill (DCM)
11, Jean-Pierre Drucker (Veranda’s Willems – Accent) at 3 mins 4 secs
12, Milan Kadlec (Czech Republic)
13, William Dugan (Team Type 1 – Sanofi Aventis)
14, Christopher Jennings (Burgos 2016 – Castilla y León)
15, Alex Meenhorst (Team Differdange – Magic-Sportfood.de)
Points classification:
1, Kristian House (Rapha Condor – Sharp) 19 pts
2, Yohann Gene (Team Europcar) 15
3, Tyler Day (Team Bonitas) 13
4, Johann Rabie (Team Bonitas) 13
5, Herman Fouche (DCM) 12
6, Christoff Van Heerden (MTN Qhubeka) 11
Mountains classification:
1, Daryl Impey (MTN Qhubeka) 58 pts
2, Jonathan Tiernan-Locke (Rapha Condor – Sharp) 51
3, David George (360 Life) 19
4, Johann Rabie (Team Bonitas) 14
5, Tony Hurel (Team Europcar) 13
6, Estifanos Gebresilassie (UCI African Team) 10
African rider classification:
1, Daryl Impey (MTN Qhubeka) 15 hours 54 mins 40 secs
2, Johann Rabie (Team Bonitas)
3, Jacques Janse Van Rensburg (Burgos 2016 – Castilla y León)
4, David George (360 Life)
5, Darren Lill (DCM) at 38 secs
6, Christopher Jennings (Burgos 2016 – Castilla y León) at 42 secs
Teams classification:
1, Team Europcar, 47 hours 43 mins 56 secs
2, Veranda’s Willems – Accent, at 2 mins 47 secs
3, Team Type 1 – Sanofi Aventis, at 4 mins 16 secs
4, MTN Qhubeka, at 4 mins 57 secs
5, DCM, at 5 mins 19 secs
6, Team Differdange – Magic-Sportfood.de, at 5 mins 23 secs
