After the surprise defeat for John Degenkolb against Carlos Betancur on the opening stage, Giant-Shimano shifted their attention to another one of their sprinters, Reinhardt Van Rensburg, in yesterday's final stage. The South African took a fine 7th, giving him plenty of confidence ahead of this week's Belgian classics.

Reinardt Janse van Rensburg topped off a tough day in the saddle with a seventh place on the closing stage of the Tour du Haut Var.

The stage was a difficult 203km leg punctuated by several steep climbs which favoured a real attacking race. A strong break of eight riders dominated the stage and once brought back into the fold the attacks didn’t cease until the finish where Amaël Moinard (BMC) took the stage ahead of overall winner, Carlos Betancur (AG2R).

Van Rensburg came across the line in a small group 10-seconds behind the winner.

“It was really tough out there today, always up and down,” said Van Rensburg on the bus following the stage. “The legs were good and the bike was great too, you can’t ask for much more with a bike like the Giant. I came down on the final climb and it too a lot of energy to get back to the front and I paid for that at the end.

“It is good preparation for Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne next weekend, and together with the testing and reconnaissance we did in the week we should be in good shape.”

Coach Lionel Marie said that it was the plan to focus on Van Rensburg in today's stage.

“Reinardt was really strong out there today, and it has been perfect preparation for the classics. The plan for today was to get Reinardt in a good position for the climbs and then for him to go with the big moves at the end and sprint it out.

“He stuck to it, despite a mishap on the final climb, and a top-10 is a good result on a tough stage like this. It should give the guys some good form going into the classics which start next weekend with the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.”