Stage Three was another long, hot and windless day for Jelly Belly p/b Kenda. A three-man break disappeared up the road for most of the day. The Team set the pace for the rest of the day and brought the break back with 3km to go. Mike Friedman ended in 7th and Kiel Reijnen was 10th, still in yellow.
A strong headwind met the riders with a new challenge on the fourth stage. For the first 50km the field tested the Jelly Belly p/b Kenda cycling by attacking over and over until finally nine riders got away. For the rest of the day Jelly Belly p/b Kenda chased them down and reeled them in with 5km to go. Reijnen added 6 seconds to his lead by sprinting to a 2nd place finish for Stage Four.
In the fifth stage Reijnen lost the yellow jersey by 16 seconds. The stage was very hot, more than 100 degrees with strong cross winds. Sweating out of the gate nine riders formed a break which was chased all day by the peloton.
“We still have one stage to go and would like to get the jersey back,” Van Haute said. “It will be very hard with all the teams riding against us, but the boys are riding really well so we’ll see how the last day plays out.”
-Molly Saunders
PR Jelly Belly p/b Kenda Cycling
