Tour de France stage winner Erik Dekker pulled off an upset win on stage 5 of the Crocodile Trophy as he beat race leader Leandre Bouchard (BH SR Suntour KMC) to the win. Dekker's victory is the first for an amateur rider at the event and also broke the record for the oldest stage winner at 47.
"It was hard. A hard day. I attacked in the beginning and the two [Bouchard and L'Esperance] came with me," Dekker said. "They were looking at each other as I attacked again and then they tried to get away, but after ten kilometres they sort of fell back to me and we worked really well together. You know, looked out for each other."
Andrew L'Esperance (Forward Racing-Norco) was one second off Bouchard and remains second on the general classification. With the two Canadians focused on extending their GC advantage, Dekker explained he made his stage-winning move.
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"I knew that they [Bouchard and L'Esperance] had to sort of really worry about their overall standing, because they are so close in first and second, so I thought, maybe today is the day and I went for it and it worked out," Dekker added. "You know, in the General Classification I'm so far behind and in my own master category quite far ahead, so this was a real goal for me and I'm really happy about the big stage win boomerang trophy!"
Hayley Smith continued to lead the elite women's classification as the sole entrant and sits in 12th place overall outright.
Stage 6 of the Crocodile takes the riders north from Skybury Coffee to Wetherby Station over 102 kilometers.
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