The last stage of the Giro del Trentino came to an end yesterday with Team MTN-Qhubeka having another spectacular day.
Louis Meintjes, our South African champion, managed to out climb the likes of Bradley Wiggins (Sky) and Cadel Evans (BMC) to take second place on the stage.
Meintjes would only be beaten by Mikel Landa (Astana), finishing just 10 seconds behind the Spaniard. Franco Pellizotti (Androni-Giocattoli) was third on the stage.
Team MTN-Qhubeka have had a good week at the Giro del Trentino, showing its colours early in the breakaways of both road stages prior to yesterday’s.
Janse van Rensburg and the rest of his breakaway companions would later be caught at the foot of the final 20km out of category climb, but his presence in the break allowed Meintjes to conserve energy for the final climb.
With 5km to go Meintjes attacked the group of favourites with no other riders able to match his pace. Almost instantly, Meintjes had a 10″ lead as he pressed on up the climb alone, leaving a number of grand tour contenders in his wake.
With 1km to go, the eventual stage winner, Landa, would make contact with Meintjes but not before the young South African was able to open up a sizable gap to the rest of the race.
Landa took the win but Meintjes was able to ride his way to a fifth place overall while also taking out the win in the young riders competition.
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