Hello and welcome to a hot day in the south of Africa. Todays race should result in a battle between the best puncheurs of the division on the final hill in Nelspruit.
6 riders should have realistic chances on the win:
Anuar Aziz Kinoshita Flügel Roche Ulissi van der Hugenhaben
It takes 30 kilometers until the break of the day stands:
Kuznetsov Costa Vilela Egger
The pack shares the pace making very well, taking early turns are:
Arrinera Eritel Generali Hugo Boss Indosat In-n-Out Karcher Meiji Telkom
So you see, quite a lot of teams very much interested in controlling the break and working together very well so far.
Meanwhile we recognize that there is a slight breeze coming from the left back side on the crossing of the second passage over the hill. An invitation for early action on that climb?
However, the pack is mostly controlled by Arrinera, Indosat, Generali, Meiji and In-n-Out, which leads to a very controlled developement of the breakaway's advantage.
150 km - 5'00
125 km - 7'00
100 km - 5'30
90 km - 5'30
80 km - 4'30
Flügel and Ulissi are the guys that are constantly placed at the very fore of the peloton, both surely must feel good.
70 km - 3'30
60 km - 3'30
50 km - 2'45
Meanwhile some information on the final climb up to Sudwala Reenwoud: It's almost 6 kilometers long, with two waves of steep sections (5-10%) and some lighter sections in between.
40 km - 2'15
The first steep section finds some tailwind, then there's sidewind up the further slopes and the final ramp to the finishing line (final 1.5 kilometers) are seing side tailwind again: The perfect conditions for an action-loaded battle on the final climb.
30 km - 1'25
25 km - 1'20
Meanwhile...
...we have a split in the peloton causing some huge trouble for minor favourites. To name some of them:
Mehr-Wenige Waeytens Borges Reimer Vastaranta Craven McEvoy Team Tinkoff
and some major helpers, f.e. Slagter or all the Wiesenhof support.
20 km - 1'20
15 km - 1'00
Arrinera, Generali & Meiji don't really feel bothered by that though and go hard to try and crack the break that has half a minute of an advantage for the last 12 kilometers. Their day will be over soon.
The break is caught and the group reduced to 28 names with 5 kilometers to go. All the guys in behind surely won't be able to come back. A half hearted attack by Anuar Aziz is pulled in soon by Roche and van der Hugenhaben, who...
...lead the group into the final 3.5 kilometers. Let the madness begin!
Roche is dragging it from the front with Ulissi right in his wheel, then van der Hugenhaben.
2 kilometers left!
The race situation hasn't changed, but the size of the group has. It's a long row up this windy final where they soon hit the crosswind sections. The following order is the current one:
Roche Ulissi van der Hugenhaben Bilbao Costa Ben Nasser Reichenbach Caruso Bystrom Kadri Hatanaka Zaini Kinoshita Anuar Aziz
Surprisingly...
... Vogt and Flügel can't hold the wheels.
Well, it looks like der German national champion had some other problems cause he's flying now up the hill. No sign of attacks until the final kilometer for some reason in the group and even after that they hold still. Is the pace of Roche too high for everybody?
Only 600 meters to go and...
still nobody bothers to attack the Irishman. The weaker guys are falling apart though. 9 guys left without suffering, in the row of:
Roche Ulissi van der Hugenhaben Bilbao Costa Ben Nasser Bystrom Kinoshita Anuar Aziz
Remember that it's tailwind, so surely a boost here for the guys placed on the upper places.
500 meters and no sign of attacks. Flügel and Anuar Aziz desperately try to move up.
400 meters and now we have a sprint going on.
Man of the minute is now Kadri coming from out of nowhere in behind. Main favourite Kinoshita should have lost this due to bad positioning, while the other bug guys move up some places. But it should be
Roche Ulissi van der Hugenhaben Bilbao
fighting out the victory. But still the guys down there are faster currently.
The sprint goes on and still everything is possible with 100 meters left. Slightly faster at the moment...
...is Ulissi challenging Roche. Or can Bilbao sneak a late one, being the fastest of the group?
No! Victory for Nicolas Roche. He beats Diego Ulissi and Pello Bilbao in an unbelieveably exciting sprint. Robin van der Hugenhaben with the unlucky 4th place but a very decent performance given his lack of acceleration abilities.
The battle for 5th is won by...
... Anuar Aziz in front of a surprisingly strong Kadri. Ben Nasser takes 7th in front of a disappointing Kinoshita and Bystrom. The final Top10 spot goes to Costa while Flügel is missing out; an unsatisfying day for both of these.
Surely the fastest time up the final climb is set by Borges, far down in the classement though. Bad luck for him losing the race on the split in the wind.
The laterne rouge goes to...
... Boev showing that beautiful Tinkoff jersey.
We're finishing this with a salute to todays winner Nicolas Roche of the scarily strong team Arrinera. Celebration time!
South Africa 
