There were some tense times in the Dimension Data team car on stage 5 of the Santos Tour Down Under between McLaren Vale and Willunga Hill on Saturday but after the finish the African team celebrated a day of double success. South African neo-pro Nicholas Dlamini secured the King of the Mountains jersey with yet another day out front in the break and Tom-Jelte Slagter finish third on the stage to Richie Porte (BMC) to take third place overall.
Dlamini just needed to take a few points available on the first ascent of Willunga Hill to secure the blue polka-dot jersey but it was a battle of nerves with Porte and the peloton.
As the bunch closed in on the seven-man break on the lower slopes of the climb, at one point getting as close as 25 seconds, Dlamini made his move, taking second place at the top of the climb behind Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) to secure the jersey for keeps.
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"Richie had taken the KoM points on the climb on yesterday’s stage, so we were only 16 points ahead of him, and there was a maximum of 16 points available on each of the two times we went over Willunga Hill," sports director Alex Sans Vega told Cyclingnews after the stage.
"Richie ended up winning the stage, as we'd predicted, which would have put him on equal points with Nic, so we had to score some points on the first climb no matter what."
Sans Vega admitted that they weren't sure the best way to play it; putting Dlamini in an early break was somewhat of a risk.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
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