| Sprinters finally have their day |
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| By Paul Verkuylen |
After three tough mountain stages, the peloton enjoyed a more relaxed and somewhat flatter stage as the race made its way to its name sake, Qinghai Lake. For the past two editions this stage has ended in a sprint, with the winner going onto to claim a handful more stage and the green jersey as sprints classification winner. Today was no exception, as Kazakhstan's Valentin Iglinskiy pushed past Tom Veelers on the line to claim his first stage win of the Tour. Only time will tell if he follows in the footsteps of the two previous winners here Alan Davis and Alex Rasmussen and claim the points jersey when the race draws to a close on the streets of Xining in five days time.
"Two days ago I was too far back as the sprint started, and because of the speed I was unable to close the gap to the two leaders," Igliskiy said, explaining his third place in Xunhua.
Today he wasn't going to let anyone get the better of him as he used his team to perfection to win the stage ahead of Veelers (Skil-Shimano) and the green jersey of Radoslav Rogina (Loborika).
"The reason that I won here today was because of the good work that my team-mates did for me in the sprint," he said.
Indeed the tactics employed by the Kazakh team today couldn't have been scripted better for Iglinskiy. Placing one of their rider's, Dmitriy Gruzdev in a break of four riders which included Lucas Persson (Capinordic), who came close to winning this stage last year, Oleksander Kvachuk (Ukrain) and Taciak Mateusz (Poland) after 10 kilometers, Iglinskiy was able to sit comfortably in the main peloton and save his and his teams energy should the stage come down to a sprint.
That Gruzdev stayed away until just two kilometres remaining with Persson played even further into the nifty sprinter's advantage.
Infact, the leading pair of Persson and Gruzdev were working so well together after they discarded their two other companions that it was almost a shame that they were unable to ride to the finish to contest the victory. They stayed away for almost 110km of the 119km stage with never any more than a maximum of two minutes advantage. Yet as so often is the case on stages of this nature, it seemed as though the peloton was almost using the pair as the carrot which guides the donkey. Waiting until the last possible moment to reel them in.
Veelers oh so close
Veelers, a known quantity in the sprints here after winning a tough kick to the line in Xining last year, was disappointed to have lost the sprint by such a small margin, but was none the less happy that a stage had finally come down to a sprint.
"They rode the climb at a nice tempo for once. There was a group of about 20 that were dropped, but luckily I wasn't one of them. I rode with the first big group of about 60," Veelers explained.
"There was a group that rode off the front, but the peloton kept it in check, gradually pulling them back.
"I could tell that everyone wanted it to come down to a sprint."
Veelers early acceleration as the peloton approached the final 500 meters may well have cost the solid Dutch man the stage. "Luckily I had a team-mate, Bert De Backer, come past me, so I could sit out of the wind for 200 meters, but I had already used up my power. I was second by just a half wheel or so I think.
"You can only go full gas here for about 200 meters," he said explaining the affects altitude have in a sprint.
Veelers is racing in China once again, after missing out on selection for the teams Tour de France squad - the first time in the teams history that they have been granted a wild card for the event. He plans to make the most of his time in China, and hopefully prove that he is worthy of a start next year should the team qualify once again.
"Of course I wanted to go to the Tour de France, but unfortunately that wasn't possible this year. Maybe next year, but I am happy to be here and going for the win.
"I feel good here, and like last year it is the idea that I come away from here with good form and to have a good second part of the season," he explained.
For Radoslav Rogina, his third place and lead in the sprints classification was somewhat a surprise, as the Croatian usually prefers the climbs over sprints.
"I didn't expect to be in this position, because normally I am not that good in sprinting, but I had a good position and was able to get third place," he said.
Never-the-less Rogina will do his utmost to hold onto the green jersey for the remainder of the race, but admitted that he will find it hard to win a stage in a big bunch gallop.
"Of course I will try to keep the jersey, but there are some hard stages still to come. I think that I could win a stage if it came down to a small group, but to win from the peloton would be very difficult."
Easy day for the GC
With today's stage being somewhat easier in profile to the previous three days, the contenders for the general classification enjoyed an easier day hidden in the large peloton.
"Today the stage was okay, I was climbing okay and just spent the day in the bunch," explained overall leader Andrey Mizurov (Tabriz Petrochemicals).
Tomorrows will also likely see the stage decided in a sprint, before the race for overall continues on Thursday as the peloton faces some testing terrain as they head towards Xihaizhen.
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| Stage
Map&Profile |
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Prologue(ITT) |
| 1st |
Xining-Ping'an-Zhaba-Tongren |
| 2nd |
Tongren-Bao'an-Xunhua |
| 3rd |
Xunhua-Zhaba-Ping'an-Xining |
| 4th |
Xining(DuobaBase)-Qinghai Lake |
| 5th |
Qinghai Lake-Bird Island |
| 6th |
Bird Island-Xihaizhen |
| 7th |
Xihaizhen-Menyuan |
| 8th |
Menyuan-Huzhu |
| 9th |
XN Circuit Race |
| Route
Map |
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