South Africa’s Jacques Janse van Rensburg got the Giro del Trentino off to a good start for MTN-Qhubeka on Tuesday.
He was in the break group of the day in the first half-stage and finished it in seventh place. After the team time-trial on the second half-stage, he moved up to fourth overall.
“Fantastic start to Giro del Trentino for our team with Jacques being in the breakaway all day after only arriving in Europe a few days ago,” said team principal Doug Ryder.
“He, along with most of the team, have just arrived from South Africa and only rode together once before heading to the race.
“They rode an exceptional TTT too to bring Jacques up to fourth overall which will give them some confidence for the rest of the tour.”
In the morning’s half-stage, Janse van Rensburg was part of an eight-man group which got away early and stayed away so well that winner Maxime Bouet (AG2R) crossed the finish line nearly seven minutes ahead of the peloton.
The afternoon saw a 14.1km team time-trial, won by Team Sky in a time of 15:20. MTN-Qhubeka crossed the line in 16:11, putting the team in 11th place.
However, Janse van Rensburg had built up such a lead in the earlier stage that he not only retained a top ranking in the GC, but moved up to be only 44 seconds off first place.
