Riccio best in Barrydale

Alberto Elli's men made it two wins in a row when Bernardo Riccio (D'angelo & Antenucci-Nippo) won the bunch sprint in stage 5 of the Cell Tour of South Africa. The 25-year-old Italian, whose last win came in 2008, was elated to finish off a great effort by his team. "I was seventh in the final sharp turn with 850 metres to go, then felt strong when the sprint started. I am very happy with the win and the way the team chased."

Kristian House (Rapha Condor-Sharp) held onto the race leader's gold jersey, which he's worn since stage 2. Asked if he was happy with the day's proceedings he said, "Today worked out perfectly for us."

The escape of the day consisted of Jeremy Maartens (DCM), Tyler Day (Bonitas), Estifanos Gebresilassie (UCI African Team), Clint Hendricks (Tasol-GT), Frank Dressler-Lehnhof (Team Differdange-Magic-Sportfood.de) and Gregory Habeaux (Veranda's Willems-Accent). There was only one King of the Mountains prime and Gebresilassie attacked as soon as the ascent started and held on to claim maximum points.

Maartens and Habeaux were the last surviving members of the break and were swallowed up with 7km to go by the peloton, lead by MTN-Qhubeka. With no one representing them in the day's escape, their chasing was rewarded when Daryl Impey, Christoff van Heerden and Arran Brown took second, third and sixth respectively on the stage.

Tomorrow will be the defining stage for the general classification. The race starts in Hermanus and includes four categorized climbs before finishing in Stellenbosch. House still has an overall lead of 2:22 and said, "We have a plan, we definitely have a plan for tomorrow."