South Africa’s Olympian, Louis Meintjes, continued to show his versatility and power on the climbs as he ended 25 seconds behind stage winner Michael Matthews on stage 14 of the Tour de France on Saturday.
Riders tackled the 181.5 kilometres between Blagnac to Rodez, which ended in another frenetic sprint finish.
Africa’s Dimension Data for Qhubeka got another podium place, courtesy of Norway’s Edvard Boasson Hagen, who took third.
Meintjes, riding for UAE Team Emirates, maintained his top-10 spot in the General Classification, lying ninth, 5min 09sec behind Chris Froome, after the Team Sky rider wrested the yellow jersey back from Astana’s Fabio Aru.
Saturday saw the front group working well together, but the peloton, led by Team Sunweb and BMC Racing Team, never let the gap get much bigger than just a couple of minutes. Towards the end of the stage, Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) attacked his fellow breakaway companions and went solo.
However, the peloton upped the pace as well, and with 12km to go it was all back together again.
A few riders tried to get away on the final kilometres of the stage, but none of the attacks proved successful. Therefore, it all came down to the last 600m of uphill towards the finishing line.
South Africa’s Reinardt Janse van Rensburg took the front of the peloton to set the pace for Boasson Hagen, but when the former World Champion – Philippe Gilbert (Quick Step Floors) – attacked, a small gap occurred. Only the two pre-stage favorites, Greg van Avermaet (BMC Racing Team) and Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb), were able to follow Gilbert, and at the end, Matthews turned out to be the fastest as he out-sprinted Van Avermaet to take the win.
Boasson Hagen put in a huge effort to close a big gap on the final few hundred meters, which saw him cross the line in third place and take yet another podium in this year’s Tour de France.
Said: Boasson Hagen: ‘The guys did a great job. Scott [Thwaites] and Reinie [Janse van Rensburg] put me in a good position for the final. I tried not to go too deep at the beginning of the ascent, but then a gap opened up and I had to go around riders in order to close it.
‘Afterwards, it was too late for me to fight for the win. I’m not surprised that Matthews won. He was my favourite today, which is why I stayed close to him all day. Now, we will look ahead. My shape is good and I hope to get another chance to fight for a stage win later in the race’.
Second South African on the GC is still two-time Olympian Daryl Impey in 73rd spot (+1hr 33min 44sec) followed by Dimension Data’s Reinhardt Janse van Rensburg (128th, 2:09:13) and Jaco Venter who has moved up to 159th (2:34:39).
Meintjes lost some ground in the Young Riders Classification and has slipped back slightly, 3:07 behind Orica-Scott’s Simon Yates.
In the team standings, Dimension Data are 19th of 22 outfits, 3:35:04 behind Team Sky.
Sunday’s 15th stage is 189.5km between Laissac-Severac lEglise and Le Puy-en Velay and it’s another relentless rollercoaster slog.
A lot of the stage will be contested altitudes above 1000m and there’s a Tour-first climb in the shape of the Col de Peyra Taillade 31km from the finish.
There’s a downhill finish but the narrow and steep Cote de Saint-Vidal may well favour a solo attack from a breakaway.
Picture of Meintjes, right, and Germany’s Emanuel Buchmann courtesy of TDF/Tim de Waele/Getty Images