Van Niekerk and Grmay make important GC selection on 3rd Korea stage

Once again the 3rd stage of the Tour de Korea would prove to be another chaotic affair with constant attacks and more breakaways than one could possibly count. In the end it was Juan Jose Oroz (Burgos BH) who would take the stage victory, just ahead of Cameron Bayly (OCBC Singapore) and Hugh Carthy (Rapha Condor JLT) in a 3 man sprint.

The top 3 riders on the stage would arrive at the line together, 5 seconds ahead of a select group of 19 riders. Originally this lead group consisted of 29 riders, including our Kristian Sbaragli, but a flurry of attacks and tactical racing saw the Italian and 6 other riders distanced in the final 40km’s of the stage. Importantly though, our two GC contenders, Dennis van Niekerk and Tsgabu Grmay both made the final selection and so didn’t lose any time on GC.

With the peloton coming in more than 5 minutes behind the leading group today, the GC battle would seem to be between just 15 riders now. Although nothing can be taken for granted though as it is quite possible that a large number of riders can ride themselves back into contention with another big breakaway in the coming days. For the time being, OCBC Singapore seem to have the upper hand with 3 riders in the top 15 while Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung are sitting pretty with Van Niekerk and Grmay in contention still.

Directeur Sportif – Kevin Campbell

We are satisfied with how the stage finished from a GC perspective. Both Tsgabu and Dennis finished in the top 20 and this sets the team up well as the tour gets longer and harder. Naturally we were dissapointed that Kristian could not remain in the leading group today, but some of the sprinters marked each other out of the race. Tomorrow is another long 200km stageand all the riders on our team are feeling good and racing well as a team.

Stage Results