The race unfolded quickly, with many attacks on the first of the three laps, but only the first ascent, up the climb of Visserhok could split the bunch. A group of about 20 riders went clear, and contained most of the favourites for the overall win. The only chase from behind came from the German team of Kuota, who pegged the group to about 30 sec, before losing ground again on the second lap up the hill.

The big race for the day was the King of the Mountains prime up the category 3 climb, and a big tussle developed between the leader, Waylon Woolcock (team Medscheme), and Kevin Evans (MTN). Evans was getting the better of Woolcock in some narrowly won contests, and on the final ascent, took it completely, wresting the jersey from Woolcock by a good 5 points!


The speed was so great on the final hill, that a select group went clear, containing Stander (Specialized), Evans (MTN), Kannemeyer (House of Paint), and George (safindit.co.za). They were joined on the downhill by Woolcock (Medscheme) and Mcleod (MTN). The attacks then started by the MTN riders, resulting in Evans getting a gap. In the final kilometer, Stander and George slipped away as well and just caught Evans before the line. Burry Stander (U/23 Mountain Bike World Champ) sprinted to his first Giro stage win, and a pink leaders jersey as well.

Results-

Nic White's day in the lead group:-

'I have mixed memories of this stage of the Giro which we have ridden many times in the past, some good, and some bad. Today was reasonable, but I did not have great legs on the final ascent, and had to rejoin the next group on the downhill leading to the finish, along with leader Haselbacher. I then watched the race unfold, just a few seconds up the road as the MTN guys attacked the front group, and my team mate, Waylon. I was with Hanco now in the second group on the road. I had hoped Hanco could challenge for the stage in the sprint, but being in the second group, it was now too late. I chased to try get us back to the leaders, but there was not enough of distance left on the stage.


I led out our sprint, and Kachelhoffer was able to get past Haselbacher to win from our group, 7th place, but we were still 6 seconds short of the opportunity to win out right! Woolcock had finished 4th, and will try again to regain the mountains jersey in the penultimate stage that includes the category 1 climbs of Franschoek Pass and Du Toitskloof Pass. The stage will start at 9h30 in Paarl, and is 171km long!

Burry Stander leads the race, and the favourites will look for any opportunities to gain time over their rivals before the big showdown on Signal Hill on Friday morning!' - Nic White

Pictures  © Michelle Cound, www.procycling.co.za

A day in our team car in the Giro del Capo: Manager - Kandice Buys, Mechanic - Magnus Gouws, story by passenger, Kevin McCallum

Kandice Buys can tweet, eat and drive all at the same time. She does all of them pretty damn well, and with little fear. Heading down the Bains Kloof Pass outside Wellington in the Western Cape on Tuesday, Buys, team manager for Team Medscheme, was piloting the team's Toyota Verso at 80km/h, whipping around corners, sending out updates on her iPhone and BlackBerry and asking me if I was sure I didn't want anything to eat.

Rushing down a hill after the leading break of 14 riders on the first stage of the Giro del Capo is a pleasant enough way to spend a Tuesday. It's hard to get closer to the action on a cycle race than being in a team car on race day. The inside of a team car is a mixture of communication central, supermarket, mobile drinks table, boardroom and bike spares shop.

Two radios, one tuned into Radio Tour, the commentary on the race from the chief commissaire?s car sitting directly behind the main bunch on what is happening in the race, who wants a new bottle to drink from, calling up riders when they puncture, alerting all to a crash, potholes in the road ahead, giving numbers of riders who have attacked and who is exactly in the break.

Until the beginning of 2010 there was a radio in the car that was linked to the riders, all of whom were wired for sound, but the International Cycling Union brought that to an end for all but ProTour races. They thought it would improve the racing but that is the subject of some debate amongst the riders. Some hate it, some love it, others don't care much either way.

The other radio in the car is for the teams to talk to each other, and Kandice Buys is a girl who can certainly talk. She and Sean Edwards of the House of Paint enjoy a chat or two, a natter and a bitch about who is driving like a twit in the convoy. The language can be choice at times but the inside of a race convoy is a manic, hectic, high pressure, tiring and yet strictly regimented place to be.

Rules is rules, as they say in Boksburg. You pass on the right when moving up to your riders, you drift back to your place in the convoy on the left. If anyone gets in your way when you are speeding to get to your driver, you blast the Bejesus out of your hooter until he gets out of the way ? and that includes riders.

You help riders who puncture or crash or who are in a team you owe a favour to get back on to the bunch. It's not strictly legal, but giving a rider a tow out of the wind as he sits behind your car is just etiquette and the race judges tend to look the other way and sometimes encourage it in the interests of fairness.

One of the German riders, making his way back, pushed and pulled himself back to the front by grabbing on to the cars for an instant before propelling himself forward. He grabbed the door handle of the DCM car and pulled. Unfortunately, the door wasn't locked and it swung open and stayed open for 30 seconds as the passenger in front tried to get across the wheels and cooler boxes in the back seat to close it.

A driver of one of the other team cars found out the hard way that Kandice is not someone to mess with as he stayed on the right-hand side of the road having a good old gander at how the back of the race was going. He flicked a finger at Kandice. She gave him the Lance Armstrong stare and shouted: "I?ll see you later, buddy." His ears are still ringing.

In the back sat Medscheme mechanic Magnus Gouws, cracking a few jokes, watching out for his brother Rian Gouws, who was riding in the race. We flew past him as we slipped past the bunch and Mags shouted, with some glee: "He's redlining there." Ah, brotherly love.

All the while, Kandice updated her Twitter feed with what was happening in the race. Her father raced Group N cars and Kandice has picked up his driving skills, her awareness and peripheral vision either supernatural or just a lot better than the somewhat hungover journalist sitting next to her.

There is no better place to watch a race. Except, perhaps, on a bike and racing, but that's no place for a somewhat hungover journalist either.

This column is reproduced courtesy of Kevin McCallum and www.iol.co.za. McCallum is the chief sports writer of The Star©