South African ace Robert Hunter (Rabobank) underlined his probable Tour de France form with a second fabulous stage win in the Tour de Suisse on Wednesday and was still comfortable in the points jersey at the end of Thursday’s sixth stage.

However, Hunter dismissed all talk of even starting in the Tour de France, commenting simply, “I don’t know about the Tour, I just want to focus on the Olympics at the moment.”

After a relatively quiet start in the opening stage won by the great Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile), Hunter grabbed a podium third place in the second stage behind Aussie hot-shot, Robbie McEwen (Lotto Domo), before his winning effort in the third.

It was becoming a case of South Africa versus Australia at cycling as McEwen came back to win the fourth stage and Hunter rode a carbon copy of his earlier break-away victory to claim the fifth stage.

Fellow professional, Scott Sunderland (Alessio), put Hunter’s powerful performances in a nut-shell as he pointed out in his race diary that, while Hunter may have been fortunate to be in the right breaks, “it’s the way he has been able to finish them off that show’s the real class of the guy.”

Hunter’s long time close friend and personal manager, Tony Harding, joined in the huge chorus of South African support for the boy from the “Wild West” Rand.

“Robert’s in the best form I have ever seen, and now it will be up to him to decide whether or not to ride in the Tour de France, ”said Harding.

All SA cycling enthusiasts will be praying that Hunter does decide to take part in the world’s biggest sports event next month.