It’s been a very tough day on the bike. Today was the Queen Stage, the route that rules them all. So just on the paper alone, riders knew that today would test their true characters. But throw in a Lesotho cold front, with icy cold and wet conditions, and suddenly the mother or all rides turned into the mother-in-law of all rides.

We had to cut out a section of the race and take riders on a longer than planned tar road to soften the blow and limit the number of broken collarbones and medical evacuations.

The biggest change in the overall classification is that of Team 24/7 Security Services. Jan Withaar and Grant Usher had a torrid day in the field. Jan crashed and damaged his bike, but still rode on. They lost a lot of time and moved down to the 6th position. This brings team Focus RAPIRO Racing into the overall 3rd position.

The African Dream Team duo, Katleho Manasi and Malefetsane Lesofe had a cracker of a day. They finished in third position, taking 22 minutes off the lead of their nearest rivals and moving into 4th place.

Mathias Flückiger and Ralph Näf took yet another stage win, with Stuart Marais and Phetetso Monese of Team Vodacom Lesotho finishing in 2nd place.

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