Second day in South Africa and it's another hilly stage: 182km in total, the stage features a challenging profile in the second half, though with a flat finish this time. Several mountain sprints in the final kilometres, it should be an interesting day again.
Van Garderen took the opening stage and will try to defend it today. Ulissi looked strong as well and he will fancy his chances in a flat finish like this.
Like yesterday, the first attempt to break clear are shut down quickly: Mandri, Oka, Hussein, Hamza couldn't go clear, but the next moves are more promising.
Two of yesterday's early attackers are again in the break of the day:
Ignatiev (KoM 3rd, 7pts) Er Rafai (KoM 2nd, 11pts)
That's a pretty dangerous breakaway for KoM leader Bauer (21pts) then. Er Rafai takes the first mountain sprint to narrow the gap on Bauer.
Opposing to yesterday, we see no crashes early into the stage, but there's a puncture:
Venter with another unlucky moment, as he was already involved in a crash yesterday. He's back in the pack quickly and with still 142km remaining, it's probably a rather "good" moment for a puncture anyway.
Er Rafai also takes the second and third mountain sprint and that's the provisional lead in the mountain competition:
KoM: Er Rafai 29, Bauer 23, Ignatiev 19
Bauer collected two points in those sprints and him and his team seem to be motivated to fight for the polka dot today. As you can see on the picture, the peloton is just 40" in arrears and chases the breakaway down with still 70km!
Bauer amongst those setting the pace and as the breakaway duo got caught, the Kiwi remains at the front to take the next three mountain sprints:
KoM: Bauer 34, Er Rafai 29, Ignatiev 19
So with 24km to go, Bauer is back in the polka dot lead and has done enough it seems. He's dropping back then, pretty exhausted after his efforts. The peloton is down to 66 riders due to the rather fast race so far. Crosswinds up to 65kmh add some spice. An interesting stage so far.
And the action continues with 12km to go:
Reichenbach Ulissi
attack the main group! Yesterday's 2nd (Ulissi) and 3rd (Reichenbach) putting some pressure on Van Garderen, who's not yet following!
Levarlet and Froome try to jump behind though, with both duos opening up a small gap on the bunch..
It's a short-lived attempt though, as all four attackers are pulled back by the pack a few moments later.
McEvoy and Paulinho with a great effort to close the gap and just when they did so, we see a next attack on the descent:
Caruso
gives it a go with 8km remaining! And the action causes a major split in the pack, as we see a rather small chasing group now..
Indeed, it's only 16 riders in the group behind Caruso and so the latest attacks from the big guns definitely had an impact. Let's have a look at who's inside the chasing group:
Van Garderen Froome Di Maggio Ulissi Zaini Reichenbach Levarlet Costa McEvoy Paulinho Le Gac De Souza Palini Grivko Mehr-Wenige Kreder
A notably strong effort by Kreder, who will surely have an eye on the stage-win now. This group is already 26" ahead of a solo chasing rider
Teklit, who had a tough day yesterday and now fights to hang on with the key GC contenders!
Further 14" behind, there's a next group with other notable names being dropped:
Venter Hategeka Mohoric Tsatevich Serry Zingle
After yesterday's crashes and today's puncture for Venter, Eritel is surely having a tough race so far.. still a way to go though.
Caruso crosses the final mountain sprint still in the leading position, but he's not too far ahead of the chasing group:
Di Maggio now attacking from this group and he's quickly catching up to Caruso, it seems!
But Caruso ain't easy to catch and as we are now already in the final 3km of the stage, he's opening up a gap again: 16" on Di Maggio, who could establish a notable gap on group Van Garderen though!
..and finally good news for Eritel, as Teklit managed to catch up to the first chasing group!
The group behind the group Van Garderen went into pieces and there's still also some bad news for Eritel, as Venter and Hategeka got dropped. Venter and Serry as the last being dropped by the second chasing group, where Isostar is feauterd heavily in order to limit the damage for Mohoric today.
2.5km to go for the first chasing group, that is a minute behind Caruso now! Di Maggio still about 28" ahead and a few guys try to accelerate in this final:
Reichenbach, Froome and also Van Garderen goes out of the saddle..
Caruso fighting hard to hold of Di Maggio and he's looking good! Inside the final kilometre, the veteran is losing some ground, but he's still 24" ahead of the solo chaser..
..and he takes the stage: Caruso with a huge effort and a well timed attack! He celebrates a nice stage-win and given the latest gaps, he may even slip into yellow for at least one day!
+ 29" for Di Maggio
He did well to distance the other favorites and he fought hard to maintain the gap.. the group came closer eventually, but will this still be enough to be rewarded a gap here?
..unfortunatelly, for Di Maggio, the race directors give group Van Garderen the same time as Di Maggio: + 29" on Caruso then.
Kreder unsuprisingly the fastest, who takes an easy 3rd ahead of Van Garderen and Palini! A strong result for Kreder, who definitely had a good day.
Ulissi, Costa, McEvoy, Reichenbach and Paulinho complete the Top-10, while Froome (17th) crosses the line as last in the group..
..a tough final few kilometres for Levarlet, who crosses the line with + 1'21" to finish just ahead of a group with five Isostar riders, including Mohoric. Credit to Jans, as he was the hardest working domestique to limit the damage for his captain today.
+ 2'05" for the next group with Venter and Hategeka as the biggest names. Surely a tough day, but at least Teklit kinda saved the stage from being a total disaster.
Caruso with a huge day, as he indeed slips into yellow thanks to his efforts today. Van Garderen 2nd with 29 seconds disadvantage. Ulissi 3rd at 0.37, with the same time as Di Maggio. Kreder (0.41) and Reichenbach next, Rui Costa (0.49), McEvoy and Froome round up the Top-10 at this point.
Van Garderen still leading the points classification, with Ulissi and Caruso 9pts behind. Bauer's efforts are rewarded with another day in polka dot and Le Gac leads the U25 classification ahead of Mohoric (0.52).
