Thursday, 10 March 2011 07:22
Van Heerden takes Tour De Boland second stage
Herman Fouché, overnight leader, lost his grasp on the first position in the Le Coq Sportif Tour de Boland when he punctured out of the lead group, and used illegal tactics to get back into contention. He was penalised for holding on to vehicles, and regretably having three minutes added to his overall time.
Meanwhile, Christoff van Heerden, MTN/Qhubeka, raced across the line ahead of a fast Johann Rabie (Bonitas) and Darren Lill, DCM, a man not normally considered a fast finisher.
Most eyes are on Lill for the game-changing stage on Friday, up Paarl Mountain to the Afrikaans Language Monument, but not before Van Heerden is going to try survive the climbs of Franschhoek and Du Toit's today. Many a pundit, however, feels that the race is actually between Cristoph Sauser (Songo/Specialized) and Lill.
Today saw several attempted breaks, with the riders going over the first climb, Du Toit's, single file. Christiaan Kriek, Best Young Rider, and still with the leaders at the end, found the climbs very tough and had to "hang on by sheer hard digging" going up the final bit of Bainskloof.
After the main peloton got together again at the bottom of the descent of Du Toit’s, Team RSA Web rider Benjamin Hoeber got in a solo break and soon opened the gap between him and the peloton to three minutes. He won the second King of the Mountains sprint at the top of Bainskloof with the peloton just a couple of seconds behind him.
With 7km to go the pace heated up and small gaps started appearing in the peloton. In the final kilometre there was a crash when four riders went down including Daryl Impey, Shaun-Nick Bester and Ian McLeod. Luckily no one was seriously injured.
The ASG Junior leaders overall classification is also unchanged with Oliver Stapleton Cotton dominating again today.
Cherise Taylor once again shone in the women's race, sprinting to the line ahead of Ashleigh Moolman Pasio and Jo van der Winkel. Pasio still leads the Clover Queen of the Mountain competition, while Burry Stander cemented the men's King of the Mountains by again dominating today.
Today's stage starts at 08:30 and covers a distance of 167km for the Elite and 137km for the Juniors, Women and Veterans in Category 2. A minor change in route will see riders travel to Franschhoek from Paarl via Simondium, and not Wemmershoek, due to road works. The women and all other riders in the second Category race will start at the Huguenot monument in Franschhoek. The expected arrival time of the Elites is around 12:30.
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