GC riders take center stage on stage 5 of Tour de France

Tadej Pogacar (UAE-Emirates) won the stage 5 Tour de France individual time trial with a commanding performance while Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) managed to just hang onto the race leaders yellow jersey.

The 5th stage of the 2021 Tour de France was a 27km individual time trial finishing at Laval Espace Mayenne. Max Walscheid, who in the week prior to the Tour de France took the bronze medal at the German ITT Championships, was focused on delivering a strong performance for Team Qhubeka NextHash today.

After Simon Clarke and Nicholas Dlamini got around the course without issue, Walscheid was next to come home for Team Qhubeka NextHash and stopped the clock with what was the 4th fastest time at that point.

The majority of the field was still to finish though, including our riders Carlos Barbero, Sean Bennett, Michael Gogl and Sergio Henao. Walscheid's effort held strong in the top 10 for quite some time but once the GC riders started to come in, his time would slide down the rankings to eventually finish 28th on the stage.

Despite the yellow jersey staying on the shoulders of Van der Poel, there was quite a shift among the rest of the GC contenders.

Henao's respectable ITT effort saw him gain one spot on GC to sit in 24th place and +3'55″ down, with all the big mountain stages still to come.

Max Walscheid
I emptied myself, and went full flat-out. I think I paced it well and tried to not overdo it in the first two climbs and then bring it as fast as possible to the line.

I’m happy with my race, did good values for myself and I’m confident about my legs.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Team Qhubeka NextHash.

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Media Contact:
Jean Smyth (Head of Communications)
Email: jean@ryder.co.za
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About Team Qhubeka NextHash:
Team Qhubeka NextHash is a purpose-led, high-performance team, fighting to win on the world's biggest stage, to inspire hope and create opportunity. Founded in 2007, Team Qhubeka NextHash (formerly NTT Pro Cycling) became the first-ever African cycling team to gain a UCI WorldTour license, in 2016.

We achieved our first major win in 2013 when Gerald Ciolek won Milan-San Remo, one of the five Monuments of cycling. We have competed in six Tour de France’s and notched up 7 stage wins, with Mark Cavendish wearing the coveted Yellow Jersey at the 2016 Tour de France.

We are a multicultural, diverse team with bases in South Africa, the Netherlands and Italy. There are 19 nationalities represented across our World Tour and continental feeder team rosters. Our focus on developing African cycling has resulted in more than 55 riders from the African continent be given the opportunity to race on the world stage, since the team's inception.

We race to help people to move forward with bicycles through our relationship with Qhubeka Charity. Through our work with Qhubeka, we have contributed to the distribution of over 30 000 bicycles in communities in South Africa.

About Qhubeka:
Qhubeka is a charity that moves people forward with bicycles. People earn bicycles through our programmes, improving their access to schools, clinics and jobs.

A bicycle is a tool that helps people to travel faster and further, and to carry more. In the face of extreme and persistent poverty, bicycles can change lives by helping to address socioeconomic challenges at the most basic level – helping people to get where they need to go. 

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