Debesay won the sprint yesterday and will be riding in the yellow jersey today. The stage might have been more decisive than some were hoping for, as a lot of riders can already forget a decent GC. Today, we find another hilly parcours with a large amount of KoM-points up for grabs. Zielinski will have to be in the break if he wants to keep the polka-dots in the Europcar team.
Noia and Reynders are the first to attack and get a gap, but they’re not exactly the best climbers. Hirschlein and Faiers, two stronger climbers who lost three minutes yesterday, then decide to counterattack and bring three more riders with them to make it seven at the front. The other three names are Kireva, Amanuel and Kämna, three Andorra riders in the leading group!
Eight categorized climbs today. Five of third category and three of fourth category. 2 km to climb on the first mountain now, let’s find out who wants that KoM-jersey more than the others.
Zielinski isn’t in the leading group, but the jersey might just stay in the Europcar team! Amanuel wins the first KoM-sprint for six points ahead of Faiers and Kireva, while Noia and Reynders are already in trouble!
Moments later we find the first intermediate sprint of the day. Amanuel showing that “Europcar winning it all”-spirit as he beats Kireva and Faiers in the sprint.
155 km to go as Kiflay leads the peloton over the summit of the first mountain, already 7’30” later than the escapees. Other domestiques at the front of the peloton are Sterobo, Hänninen, Al Murawwi, Bester, Cisse, Quaade and Rosa.
The second intermediate of the day is won by Zimbabwe’s national champion Kireva, while Faiers and Amanuel grab the other points. Time to go back to the more interesting KoM-sprints now! 144 km to go and the peloton at 6’.
In the peloton we see the first six riders of the day being dropped. Just as yesterday, Ford and Frame are looking at losing a lot of time.
Great teamwork by Andorra on the second KoM-hill of the day, as Kireva grabs six points ahead of teammate Hirschlein and Faiers. Bad positiong by Amanuel, no points for him. Zielinski still in the lead with six more points than Kireva, as a full peloton crosses the KoM exactly 5’ later.
After 20 km of false flat and another 20 km of descending, the seven leaders reach the third and last intermediate sprint. Kireva wins it again, this time ahead of Amanuel and Faiers. 80 km and six KoM-hills to go as the peloton is 3’ behind. Still the exact same teams working in the peloton, except for Project: Africa, who decided to stop cooperating.
The third KoM-sprint of the day had a steep intro, but was quite flat at the end. Ideal for Kireva you would think, but the man from Zimbabwe got stuck between Faiers and Kämna. Amanuel accelerated at the right time and is now two points behind teammate Zielinski (14). Faiers and Kireva both at ten points.
On the fourth KoM-categorized hill of the day, Faiers had to start his sprint from the first position. He got overtaken by Kireva, who on his turn was overtaken by Amanuel! Yesterday an Eritrean took the stage win, now an Eritrean takes the virtual KoM-lead! 50 km to the finish line now, as the peloton follows at 2’45”!
Shortly after, the leading group is on their fifth KoM-hill of the day! Faiers once again had to start sprinting from the first position with the other two “KoM-riders” behind him. Another nice sweep for Andorra now, as Kireva takes five points ahead of Hirschlein and Amanuel. While the other three leaders had to let go of the four up front, the KoM-standings are now as follows: Kireva and Amanuel both have 19 points, Zielinski has 14, and Faiers and Main have 12.
Bester leads the peloton over the top 2’15” later. So far, only time trialists and weaker domestiques have been dropped.
While Andorra is doing well with still two leaders in the attack, their “leader” is now struggling. Wallays (6th GC) has to close a gap to the first peloton with 30 km to go, in the same group we also find Hirschi, Pellaud, Tizza, Lavery, Clarke, Zielinski, Weiss, Roux, Gogl, and Grmay.
Amanuel wins the sixth KoM-sprint of the day ahead of Kireva and Faiers and comes one step closer to bringing the KoM-jersey back to Europcar! The peloton only 45” behind, mainly thanks to the work of the Campari Asahi team and a hard working Saggiorato! 24 km to go!
20 km to the finish line as Basso reduces the gap between the first peloton and the four leaders to 30” now! Only 52 riders in the peloton, and we see KoM-leader Zielinski at the front now! So, what important names GC wise are currently missing up front?
The first chasing group is led by Roux! The other important names (at a minute in the GC or a bit more) in this group or even in a further group are McEvoy, Gogl, Hansen, Main, Wallays, Hirschi, Pellaud and Anuar Aziz! Bad day for Sauber it seems!
15 km left as the positions are more or less the same. The four leaders are 35” ahead of the first peloton, while the group Roux is another 45” behind that group! Small gaps, but they still have to be closed!
11.7 km to the finish line and 2 km to the top of the penultimate KoM-hill of the day as Kireva seems to be struggling to keep up with the other three leaders!
The Andorra rider makes it back with 1.5 km to climb, but now we see the first move coming from the peloton, as Ssabagwanya attacks! So far, only Italian champion Di Maggio decides to followed the Ugandan rider from home team Project: Africa!
Goh and Kreder with domestique duties in the peloton now, as Ssabagwanya flies by the four leaders! Di Maggio seems to be a bit stuck behind them, or is he simply too tired to follow the Ugandan?!
Ssabagwanya still in the lead with 500 meters to climb and while almost entering the last 10 km, but the big guns now coming closer to him! In the first positions we see Borges, Moscon, Gautier, Houle and Di Maggio!
Borges wins the penultimate KoM-sprint of the day! However, we doubt that the Portuguese really cares about that classification. So far, still sixty riders are in the peloton, let’s see how many can actually follow the Duolingo rider on his way to the last KoM-sprint in 3 km!
A group of four has a gap with 8 km to go! The four names at the front are Borges, Moscon, Gautier and Di Maggio!
Juul-Jensen then leads the peloton in the chase! The same three Xero riders as yesterday at the head of the peloton as well, while Strava’s best positioned rider is Kreder!
Borges also takes the maximum of the points at the last KoM-sprint of the day, with 6.8 km to go! Meurisse now also accelerating in the peloton, is this in service of yellow jersey Debesay, in service of Houle, or simply to win himself?!
Last five km for our four leaders, as Meurisse is just behind them, and the next group of 18 riders also not much further! The names in that group of 18 are Juul-Jensen, Claeys, Buchmann, Kreder, Jaramillo, Ssabagwanya, Villella, Molard, Haas, Robov, Konig, Debesay, Houle, Seibeb, Felline, Zielinski, Tizza and Goh!
4.5 km to the finish line and just before the final small hill of the day as Meurisse makes it five at the front! The group of 18 only 20” behind!
3 km left and we’re already close to the top of that final hill, which isn’t really the Mont Ventoux! The eighteen behind now coming a bit closer, with a time difference of 15”!
Attack by Gautier with 2.5 km to the finish line! While the other three leaders are able to follow him, Di Maggio instantly gets blown back to the chasing group, where Claeys is leading the dance!
1.5 km to go as it seems the win will be for one of those four guys! It seems unlikely that Gautier will remain in first position until the finish line, and Moscon normally isn’t the best sprinter neither. Borges or Meurisse seem to be the favourites for the stage win now, while in the group behind Zielinski and Molard have been dropped!
800 meters left as the other three leaders still follow the Frenchman from Valio. Borges needs to be careful to not get stuck in the sprint!
And they’re off! 600 meters to go as Meurisse starts his final sprint, while the Duolingo rider is trying to pass Gautier on the left side!
Very risky moves by yesterday’s number two, but it seems to work! Borges in the lead with 400 meters to the finish line! Moscon now into third!
He might not be the strongest sprinter, but he might be the smartest, the final 300 meters have a slope of 1%, and Moscon might have waited until the best moment to launch his sprint, as the Italian is now into second! Kreder clearly on his way to win the sprint in the group behind, and maybe even reducing the time differences to zero seconds!
Final 100 meters and Moscon now very close to overtaking Borges! Kreder gaining ground rapidly, but surely he can’t bridge the gap and win it anymore?!
Moscon and Borges next to each other with 50 meters to go! Who wins the second stage of the Tour of South Africa?!
Moscon does it! Moscon wins! Great win for Centovalli – Fiat, as Borges is second for the second day in a row, which does give him the GC lead though! The podium then gets completed by Meurisse ahead of Gautier!
As Moscon still can’t believe what just happened, Kreder finishes fifth after a great sprint. The other top-10 places go to Houle (6th), Villella (7th), Jaramillo (8th), Buchmann (9th) and Debesay (10th).
