The 3rd stage of the Tour de France saw Joquim Rodriguez (Katusha) take the victory atop the Mur de Huy, just ahead of Chris Froome (Team Sky) and Alexis Vuillermoz (AG2R La Mondiale). Froome would also move into the yellow jersey.
The day would start of positively for our African team as Serge Pauwels got into the break of the day, escaping with 3 other riders from kilometer zero. While the break was caught with around 60km to go, Serge’s efforts were well rewarded as the first Belgian across the line at kilometer 15 would win a car. Being the only Belgian in the break, Serge will drive away with a brand new Peugeot after the Tour.
The main talking point of the day was the massive crash that occurred just after the break had been caught today. A touch of wheels at high speed saw a massive pile up of around 40 riders. Daniel Teklehaimanot, Reinardt Janse van Rensburg and Tyler Farrar all went down. Thankfully each of our riders were able to re-join the peloton after race organisers neutralised the race due to the dramatic crash.
Once things got underway again with 50km to go it was a mad dash to the foot of the Mur de Huy. Our 2 young Africans, Louis Meintjes and Merhawi Kudus would form part of the select favourites group that arrived at the foot of the Mur together. Louis would cross the line 22nd and Merhawi 30th in the end.
Reinardt Janse van Rensburg – Rider
Merhawi Kudus – Rider
