It was a day of fifth places on the fifth stages at the two biggest bike races in the world for South Africa yesterday. Ashleigh Moolman Pasio of the Bigla team finished fifth in the Giro Rosa in Italy, while MTN-Qhubeka’s Edvald Boasson Hagen took his second fifth place in as many days at the Tour de France.
Moolman Pasio, the South African champion, remains third overall, just 12.3 seconds back, after the first mountaintop finish of the Giro Rosa, which ended in Aprica. The world champion, Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (Rabo-Liv), attacked with 3km remaining and won by just a second on the line with race leader, Megan Guarnier (Boels-Dolmans) second and Anna van der Breggen (Rabo-Liv) third.
“Today was another great team effort,” said Moolman-Pasio. “The girls did an excellent job at looking after me. It was a dangerous stage in that it wasn’t the hardest climb to the top but it meant that it could possibly be a day for a breakaway to stay away.
“When we hit the final climb, I was very well supported by Annemiek (van Vleuten) and Joëlle (Numainville). I felt really good up the climb. It wasn’t too steep but there were a few attacks. There was a point where Pauline got away but she never really got a big gap. Anna and Megan took a few seconds on the line, but GC (general classification) mostly stays the same. We’re looking forward to the next few stages where it just gets tougher and tougher as the days go by.”
On a day when the Tour de France rode past the Bois Delville memorial to the 1085 South Africans killed in World War I in July 1916, Boasson Hagen was well protected in a hectic rush to the line by his MTN-Qhubeka powered by Samsung teammates. Tyler Farrar, himself a former Tour stage winner, and Reinhardt Janse van Rensburg, who had managed to get back to the front bunch after a 20-rider crash with 25km to go, fought and found the right lines and wheels as the bunch sprint beckoned.
With two kilometres to go, Farrar found himself on the front of one of the two lines leading to the finish, a position he may not have wished to be in at that time. Janse van Rensburg took over and dropped Boasson Hagen off in the mix. The Norwegian champion bustled and bumped his way until the main sprint opened up. He found a gap on the right and powered to fifth place.
“It was another stressful stage but for the most part I was able to stay in the front and when there was a split we had good representation in front,” said Boasson Hagen. “I was feeling good but the original plan today was to ride for Tyler. All of us actually crashed near the end but we also all got back to the front okay. Daniel did well to help bring me back quickly and then the other guys also got back. After the crash the plan for the sprint had to change and we would now ride for me.
“I was in a good position on (Alexander) Kristoff’s (Norwegian rider with Katusha) wheel and I made my sprint down the right. There soon became no space for me to move up anymore against the barrier but I am happy with how I am feeling and the team was great today.”
MTN-Qhubeka’s Natnael Berhane rode himself into third place overall on the fourth stage of the Tour of Austria yesterday. -