David Kopp won the first stage of the 2010 Tour de Boland, in windy and hot conditions.

The German won the stage over 143km in a time of 3 hours, 45 minutes and 37 seconds, beating Team Medscheme’s former South African and African champions, Hanco Kachelhoffer and Nic White into second and third respectively.

The lead three finished a mere minute ahead of Stefan Ihlenfeldt, Anton Wynand (both Cape Town Market) and David Garrett (Daikin-GU).
Defending champion Johann Rabie (Medscheme) crossed the finish line in the company of a few more riders some minutes later.

Kopp, of the German Kuouta-Indeland team, won the stage with ease and raised his fist victoriously when he crossed the line.

Kachelhoffer said afterwards: “I didn’t stand a chance.”
The first stage was 11 laps of the Lady Loch circuit outside Wellington, a cycling mecca, where the Junior World Cycling Championships of 2008, and the World "B" Cycling Championships in 2007 took place.
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The decisive move of the day came in the third lap, where a group of five riders got away and soon was followed by another small group. The breakaway consisted of White, Kachelhoffer, Kopp, Wynand, Ihlenfeldt, Garrett and Lotto Petrus (EMG), the latter a silver medalist in the 2009 African Cycling Championships held in Namibia, his home country.

The breakaway's advantage was initially around one one minute, but it grew to more that four minutes, where, with the start of the last lap White attacked as soon as the bell went, with only Kopp able to follow.  Kachelhoffer played the very important role of team mate to White, "marking" Garrett, when, with 10km to go Kachelhoffer joined White and Kopp. Garret had to concede defeat, and the "rest is history."

According to Kachelhoffer it is clear that Medscheme will have to contend with Garrett and the Germans for an overall victory.

Tomorrow’s stage (Thursday 18 March) starts at 09:00 at the Florida Farmstall outside Wellington. The stage is 133km consisting of 4 laps of the Paardeberg circuit, a circuit traditionally used the regional Western Province Championships events.