Daniel Teklehaimanot (MTN-Qhubeka) put African cycling on the map when he animated today's stage of the Tour de Suisse, spending almost the entire day in the breakaway. In the end, there was to glory for MTN-Qhubeka as Gerald Ciolek finished outside the top 10 in the final sprint.
The 4th stage of the Tour de Suisse came down to the expected bunch sprint with Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma Quickstep) taking the win. Juan Jose Lobato (Movistar) was 2nd in the sprint for the line with Peter Sagan (Cannondale) pushing through for 3rd place. Gerald Ciolek got involved in the sprint with the German eventually ending in 17th place after the crazy fight that was the sprint finish.
Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung will look upon the day as a success though as Daniel Teklehaimanot, one of the Eritrean stars, spent just under 150km’s in the days breakaway with Laurens De Vreese (Wanty Groupe Gobert). The duo were able to build up a lead close on 5 minutes over the peloton and held on to an advantage right up until 10km to go. Omega Pharma Quickstep were the team doing all the chasing, ensuring their race leader Tony Martin held on to the yellow jersey and at the same time giving Cavendish a crack at the win.
The run in to the line was fast, furious and at some points quite dangerous as riders dodged some road furniture and road works. Jaco Venter and Jay Thomson were seen to be looking after Ciolek during the course of the day with Thomson finally dropping Ciolek off in the top 20 positions with 1.5km to go. The big battle that then followed saw plenty elbows being thrown and very little room for maneuver. Ciolek battled to find a gap, finally crossing the line inside the top 20 on the stage.
"Our plan was to place Daniel in the leading group today and he did it," Directeur Sportif Jens Zemke said. "He showed a strong fighting spirit, won the last GPM and and the bunch caught him and his companion with 10km to go. All was prepared for a sprint of the champions. We finished 17th with Gerald and Sergio [Pardilla] was well protected throughout the day and finished in the bunch."
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