For the second day running South African Jay Thompson was in the thick of the action from the start intent of getting up the road in search of young Kiwi Michael Torcklers yellow jersey.

On a stage where no one wanted to give an inch and the top teams covering each other in a tit for tat battle the pace was on and off for the first third of the stage.

Once the break formed it was Jay Thompson (Fly V Australia), Gordon McCauley (Subway-Avanti), Joseph Lewis (Drapac Porsche),  Jeremy Yates  (Team Solway), Scott Lyttle and Westley Gough driving hard and as they ripped through the 90km mark the group were working well together and had put 2.40 into the peloton.

Unfortunately for the Peoples Champion Gordy McCauley an untimely puntcture put paid to his chances for the day and an average wheel change was the final nail in the coffin as a Team Cardo lead pelton swallowed him up and bore down on the break.

The Cardno team of Yellow Jersey Torckler demonstated they were more than up to the task of defending the yellow and closed to within 15 seconds at the finish line where Thompson, Matthews and Yates battled it out for the podium places.