Wow another tough day at the Pioneer. We were presented with another 100km stage but with fewer meters to climb.
A big group rolled out of Prince Albert and after a few k’s of racing we had Hasi and Zami off the front in a break. Nice one boys!
The group stayed quite large until we encountered some corrugations and a bit of crosswind. This resembled racing in Western Europe somewhat and with that the bunch split. We were happily still in the mix and stayed so until the main climb of the day; particularly rocky, rough technical ascent with a few hike a bike sections.
We got over the top in a decent position with good potential to bridge across to the front on the technical downhill but then the dreaded psssh sound arrived from Oli’s rear wheel. A rock had caught his side wall and we were forced to plug the tyre.
It was back to chasing as we had done yesterday. We made up good time and rode back up to the Dutch boys from Cube/Nutswerk just kilometres from the finish after some pretty big pulls. Although position wasn’t crucial, more so the time, I decided to go for a sprint and took them on the drag to the line. So it was 5th on the day for us and we maintained our 4th on GC.
I think our goal now lies in trying to make the podium one day, hopefully lady luck shines on us. Till another tough day tomorrow. Thanks for tuning in. Ciao
All Images Credit Bridge Cape Pioneer Trek
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