JOHANNESBURG - Louis Meintjes held on to his title as the best-performing South African at the Tour de France on Tuesday after stage 10’s 178km ride between Perigeux and Bergerac.
It was a stage for the sprinters, as proved by Marcel Kittel's victory - the fourth stage win for the German QuickStep Floors rider.
Meintjes hung on to his 11th spot on the General Classification standings. He’s exactly five minutes behind overall leader Chris Froome of Sky. And his Rio Olympics compatriot Daryl Impey is 71st, the Orica-Scott rider 55:44 behind the leading time.
The other two South Africans, Dimension Data for Qhubeka’s Reinardt Janse van Rensburg and Jaco Venter are 140th (+1:21:22) and 176th (+1:41:10) respectively.
In a hectic final, Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka’s Edvald Boasson Hagen managed to take home another Top 10 result.
"This was actually a very easy day with just two guys at the front. However, the final was very hectic and the wind didn’t make it any easier," Janse van Rensburg said.
"All the teams were fighting to take the front. Unfortunately, we lost each other a little bit with 2km to go. After that, we tried to move back to the front but it just wasn’t possible anymore."
Dimension Data continue to bring up the rear in the team category in 22nd spot, 2:20:18 off Team Sky.
Wednesday’s 11th stage is from Eymet to Pau, a ride of 203.5km.
It’s another tailor-made day for the sprinters, ahead of the approaching Pyrenees mountains. There’s just one sprint and classified climb and it should be another big sprint ahead of the mountains.