Race Report: Midvaal Vets Tour Stage 3

Today the stage was 120km, out to Heidelberg, then down towards the Vaal Dam, and back to Daleside.



With Werner Moolman (Mr. Price KZN) still in yellow, the onus was on Absolute Systems/Bulk Pack Meat and Cyclelab to try to do something about it. Our plan was to attack from very early, and hope that I could get into a good move with some strong riders. Out feeling was that with Craig being marked closely, and Marco & Jock not being allowed to get away either, I may have a chance of getting a good move going before Mr. Price decided that it would be dangerous.



Once again the route profile was pretty flat, with the one small climb coming just before Heidelberg. I went in a move right from the gun with Moolman Welgemoed and one of the Cyclelab Riders and we opened up a nice little gap. But with the peloton being fresh it did not last very long.



The attacks were coming regularly and the pressure was on. Then Marco van Biljoen punctured which was bad news for us. A good move went with Johan Labuschagne and Moolman Welgemoed and opened up a big gap. Then on the climb into Heidelberg, Jock and Craig put in a big attack and shattered the bunch. A lot of riders were in trouble and we had managed to isolate Werner.



With Johan and Moolman down the road, it looked like Jock and Craig would get across to them and the move would be very dangerous. The bunch was completely strung out, but a few big trucks came past and pulled the whole bunch back together. Some seriously dangerous riding was taking place, and I'll be surprised if some riders aren't disqualified.



As the bunch came back together I jumped hard and went across to Johan and Moolman. Later Jock came across to the break but the dynamics of the break got disrupted and the bunch soon caught us again.



Heading out towards the dam, another hill allowed a break to get away. The break contained strong riders, David Labuschagne, Jock Green, Donovan Jackson, Dave Garrett, Moolman Welgemoed to name a few. The break became threatening, so Mr. Price called their riders back and the chase was on. Riders began dropping out including David Labuschagne, so the pace must have been hot.



The break lasted about 50km, and the Mr. Price guys had to work like trojans to bring it back. As the break was coming back, the counter-attacks started and things got hot again. There are plenty of long drags and the pace was really stringing the bunch out. All the while I was trying to keep an eye on the riders near me on the GC, so i had to make sure I covered moves by Stefano Madies, James Lauter, and Glenn Campbell.



Plenty of attacks but none of them had the right mix, until Craig and Werner got away together. Clearly Mr. Price would not chase this, and we would not either. This left Cyclelab attacking continuously. I didn't want to let any of their riders go because it would cost me in the GC. So I had my hands full trying to cover every move that went.

Things stayed together, with 3 riders getting away just before the finish line.

Unfortunately, even though Craig won the stage, his time bonuses did not make up the gap with Werner so tomorrow we need to make some moves if we are going to win this tour. The Kermesse is 4 laps of 5km, so not much time to do anything.

Overall I averaged 305w Normalised Power for 3h05 at an average speed of 41.1km/h. The first hour was hard, I averaged 340w for the hour so I am very pleased that I still had reasonable legs towards the end of the stage.