![\"9982_04-07-2013_8441.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-2-0-54310200-1372966059.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nPhoto credit: Graham Watson<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSimon came to me yesterday afternoon and asked if it was okay for him to pass the jersey along to Daryl,\u201d said Sport Director Matt White. \u201cI said it was fine. They\u2019re great mates. What they\u2019ve done for each other will never be forgotten. Simon won his stage with the perfect lead-out from Daryl, and he had his two days in yellow. For Daryl to be the first African in yellow, even if it\u2019s only one day \u2013 well, it will change his life forever.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI was pretty emotional on the podium,\u201d admitted Impey. \u201cI was standing there and thinking \u2018This is it.\u2019 – this is the proudest moment ever of my career. I don\u2019t think anything will ever top this. That\u2019s not to say I\u2019ll never be able to do it again, but not in this way. It\u2019s like winning the jackpot.\u201d<\/p>\n With strong winds in the forecast, a nervous peloton set off from Aix-en-Provence. Luis Angel Mat\u00e9 launched a lone attack and found himself up the road without any company from the stage six start.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think he wanted to be up the road,\u201d said White. \u201cHe attacked and looked behind him. When he realised no one had come with him and no one was chasing, I\u2019m sure he felt pretty miserable. The general speed and anxiety of the bunch caught him before the intermediate sprint.\u201d<\/p>\n With Mat\u00e9 reabsorbed, the peloton stuck together for the intermediate sprint and the Col de La Vay\u00e8de, the stage\u2019s only ranked climb. Crosswinds kept the pace high and the nerves higher. ORICA-GreenEDGE stuck close to the front in defence of the yellow jersey, often sharing pace-making duties with teams eager to stay near the front to keep their overall contenders safe.<\/p>\n \u201cThe nervousness made the race fast all day,\u201d said White. \u201cI\u2019m not surprised that the bunch stayed together until the end.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt was such a stressful day,\u201d Impey added. \u201cI just wanted to get to the finish. I knew if I did the lead-out for Gossy as planned, I\u2019d probably end up in yellow.\u201d<\/p>\n Multiple crashes disrupted the final hour of racing with the peloton splitting in the last kilometre. The Australian outfit managed to stay safe despite a close call for Goss on the run-in towards the finish.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a really tricky final,\u201d noted White. \u201cThe roads were narrow. We knew there was a good chance there would be gaps at the finish.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGossy got caught up in a barricade at 700m,\u201d White continued. \u201cSomeone swung up from the Lotto train, and as he dropped back, it impeded Gossy just as Brett [Lancaster] and Daryl accelerated. Gossy lost the train and started chasing, but at that speed and with such a short distance to make gains, he wasn\u2019t able to make contact.\u201d<\/p>\n Andr\u00e9 Greipel (Lotto Belisol) took the stage win ahead of Peter Sagan (Cannondale) and Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano). Impey finished on the same time as Greipel to move into yellow.<\/p>\n \u201cThe team did a massive amount of work ,\u201d said Impey. \u201cI couldn\u2019t have done it without them. They rode on the front all day. They got me bottles. Everyone did something. Svein [Tuft], Cam [Meyer] and Stuey [O\u2019Grady] were on the front all day. Everyone stayed around me. Gerro did the lead-out.<\/p>\n When I say everyone did something, I mean everyone \u2013 I don\u2019t want to forgot anyone. It wasn\u2019t just the riders. It\u2019s the staff and management, too. It\u2019s Gerry [Ryan] for giving us all an opportunity to compete at this level. Everyone pitched it to get me this yellow jersey. This is super special for me, and it\u2019s a massive moment for South African cycling.\u201d<\/p>\n Gerrans was caught on the other side of the split at the finish. The former yellow jersey is now at 5\u201d in third overall. Impey and Gerrans are separated by Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky) in second, 3\u201d behind Impey.<\/p>\n \u201cDuring yesterday\u2019s stage when I had the yellow jersey on, I was really enjoying the experience,\u201d said Gerrans. \u201cI thought this could be a once in a lifetime opportunity. I basically wouldn\u2019t be in yellow without the support of Daryl. At that point, I decided it would be a really nice gesture to pass it on to him for a day or two.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI went into today\u2019s stage with the plan of helping in the sprint and then drifting back in the bunch,\u201d Gerrans continued. \u201cWe all had to be together in the final to pass it over like that. The first objective was to keep the jersey within the team and ride for the sprint. While riding for the sprint, it would be simple to pass it over because it was only a matter of stage places on count back. Today I had the opportunity to change the life of a good mate of mine. That\u2019s why I decided to do it. Who wouldn\u2019t?\u201d<\/p>\n While Gerrans may be cavalier about his decision, Impey is anything but.<\/p>\n \u201cSimon could have kept the jersey if he had wanted, but he gave up his opportunity to give me an opportunity of my own,\u201d explained Impey. \u201cThat shows exactly what this team is about. We have a culture where everyone is important and everyone gets an opportunity. I\u2019m really thankful for that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere are a lot of really, really good cyclists who never get the chance to wear the yellow jersey,\u201d Impey added. \u201cI\u2019m one of the lucky ones.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Daryl Impey finished in a front group of 16 riders on stage six of the Tour de France to move into the race lead. The South African becomes the first African to wear the Tour\u2019s yellow jersey. Simon Gerrans led out Matt Goss for the sprint and conceded five seconds to Impey when the bunch […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":53244,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[402,4517,232],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-21726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-daryl-impey","tag-orica-greenedge","tag-tour-de-france"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21726"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=21726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}