The queen stage in the Tour of South Africa: a challenging circuit around Knysna features a steep climb with slopes up to 14%, that has to be climbed fourteen times. Definitely a stage, where we had some crucial gaps in the previous editions.
Van Garderen and Froome at the top of the GC on the same time. It could hardly be more thrilling. Reichenbach and Teklit not far behind, while Ulissi has to be aggressive to climb in the rankings today.
Venter was the first rider to attack the pack! The local hero (+ 2.43 as 34th) had some tough days so far and he goes for the early attack now. Surely an interesting move by Eritel, who still have Teklit as the most promising GC contender.
Anguilet (+ 10.18 in the GC) joined his former teammate a few moments later and the duo forms the break of the day!
Halfway through the stage (120km to go), Venter took the first mountain sprints, the peloton obviously does not want to give Venter a too heavy advantage here. Fejes leads the chase at this point, where the peloton is just 1'50" in arrears. Van Garderen already showing his yellow at the front, too, but there's no domestiques to be seen for Newton.
Venter kept winning the mountain sprints and as he now enters the final 30km of the stage, he has dropped Anguilet! The South African with a long solo attempt and the peloton ain't too far behind either.
The general pace in the pack, the challenging profile and some crosswinds up to 35kmh make for a selective race, as to be expected: 25km before the finish, the peloton already is going into pieces and there's just 26 riders left in the first group!
The advantage for Venter is back to 2 minutes with 23km to go for him!
Kreder as one of those, who couldn't stay with the first main group! The sprinter (9th in the GC) had some very good days so far, but this stage is obviously too much for his skills. He's dropped 25km before finish.
Even worse:
Levarlet (18th in the GC) Hategeka (21st)
got dropped just a few moments before Kreder! The duo finds themselves already about a minute behind the main group with most of the other GC contenders and with still a way to go in the stage, they are in danger to lose big minutes today.
Next lap and the first big moves out of the main group (that reeled in Anguilet in the meantime):
Reichenbach Froome Di Maggio Van Garderen
accelerate out of the now 23-men-group, that is still 1'50" behind Venter with 14km to go!
A few more names trying to follow, so the real action is on now!
The four attackers couldn't get away from the group, but their attack made the group going into further pieces. We're down to 12 riders in the group of the GC contenders and there's a next attack inside the final 10km of the stage:
Ulissi goes!
Zaini Di Maggio (tried to follow, but couldn't) Van Garderen Froome Costa Reichenbach Teklit Mohoric Tsatevich Palini
build a group a few seconds behind.. so a few more notable got dropped in the meantime:
Caruso Mehr-Wenige Serry Zingle Le Gac
are in a group with more than a minute behind!
Ulissi's move made for another selection then, as Di Maggio keeps on trying to follow and a few more names are dropped:
Di Maggio, Costa, Zaini, Van Garderen and Froome in the first chasing group now, while Reichenbach, Mohoric, Palini and Teklit couldn't follow!
The situation with 8.5km to go for solo leader Venter:
he's now just 42 seconds ahead of Ulissi, who established a small advantage on group Van Garderen, Di Maggio! The further groups are now losing ground quickly, so we will surely see some significant changes in the GC today.
Costa goes down on the slicky road! It began to rain just a few minutes before and that's a real shocker for Berg Cycles with their leader going down in the final 7km of the stage! He's obviously dropped from group TVG and finds himself back on the bike in one of the smaller groups later on. Truly bad luck for him, as he looked set to improve his 6th in the GC with a so far strong showing in the stage.
5km to go: Ulissi could not stay clear from the chasing group! Van Garderen, Di Maggio, Froome and Ulissi are 49" behind Venter, who is going strong towards a stage-win here!
Zaini got dropped from the group and he's 29" in arrears, just a few seconds ahead of a group with Reichenbach, Palini and Mohoric..
Less than a kilometre to go for Venter and the South African still has a nice gap there..
..which allows him to celebrate early: Venter takes the queen stage thanks to an early attack and a long solo effort after dropping Anguilet with more than 30km to the finish! A special win for the local hero, especially since he had some tough luck in the first few days here. Well played and it will surely be rewarded with a high GC position after the stage.
Here comes the chasing group, where Van Garderen and Ulissi launch their sprints under the kite..
+ 22" for Van Garderen and Ulissi
And also Di Maggio and Froome finish in the same time as Van Garderen, who succesfully defends yellow that way. Crucial bonifications against Froome as well.
+ 1'16" for Zaini, who lost some ground in the final few kilometres. Still a solid effort afterall.
+ 2'00" for Palini, Reichenbach, Mohoric
Mohoric with a strong showing to attack the U25 lead!
+ 2'52" for a group with Costa and Le Gac
Truly bad luck for Costa, who eventually lost more than two minutes on group Van Garderen. His crash definitely happened in the worst possible moment.
Le Gac losing almost a minute on Mohoric, who will indeed take the lead in the U25 rankings that way. Serry, Paulinho, Tsatevich, Teklit, Mugerli and Zingle as those others in this group.
Pavarin, Walker and McEvoy complete the Top-20 a few minutes later. And then there's a bigger group with Caruso, Mehr-Wenige, Kreder, Hategeka and Levarlet as today's biggest losers, as they cross the line 6'11" behind Venter. A disappointing day for Levarlet in particular.
Two DNFs, see the names below.
Van Garderen entering the final stage in yellow, now with a 12 seconds advantage on Froome and 47 seconds on Di Maggio. He's also leading the points classification with 71pts, while Ulissi moves up to 2nd with 53pts.
Ulissi moving up to 4th in the GC, ahead of Reichenbach, Zaini and Venter goes up to 7th ahead of Teklit. Palini and Mohoric in the Top-10 ahead of an unlucky Rui Costa. Kreder dropping to 20th, Levarlet to 24th, Caruso to 26th and Hategeka to 27th.
