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The Fifth Tour of Qinghai Lake took place on July 15th -23rd, 2006. The classification remained 2.HC in the UCI Asian Calendar, one of the two top level races in Asia. 138 riders in 20 teams including 2 UCI pro-teams, 4 UCI professional continental teams, 10 UCI continental teams and 4 national teams from 16 countries and regions participated in the race, which covered 1309.8km over 9 stages. |
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The opening ceremony was held on the shore of beautiful Qinghai Lake, the well-known interior salt water lake in China as well as a famous scenic spot in Qinghai. The ceremony attracted approx. 20,000 people to watch the grand performance gathering some popular Chinese folk and rock stars. CCTV and Qinghai TV provided a 90' live telecast. |
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Mrs. He Luli, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of NPC and Mr. Pat Mcquiad, UCI President were present at the ceremony. |
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The route of the fifth Tour of Qinghai Lake, starting from Qinghai Lake Hotel, covered Qinghai Lake area, Xihaizhen, Guide, Menyuan, Huzhu, Minhe and Xining. The altitude difference varied from 2250m to 3880m. |
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The motif of the race was updated into “Green, Humanity and Harmony”. It took full advantage of the province's sport, cultural, tourist and environmental resources to enhance the harmony between nature and human beings for the mandate of strengthening the sporting brand position of top-level event in Asia.
More than 80 domestic correspondents covered this race. Cyclingnews.com became the major foreign cooperator of Tour of Qinghai Lake Organization, which assigned photographer Mark Gunter to provide daily race reports and a number of photos for the official website of the race. TQL official website, TQL Special, Qinghai Daily, Qinghai TV, Qinghai People's Broadcasting Station and other local media organizations fully presented the event to the audience from different angles.
The 2006 Tour of Qinghai Lake was won by Maarten Tjallingii (SKS-NED), followed by Askari Hossein (GNT-TPE), only 1 second behind. Hossein was also the best Asian rider. The third place went to Nacor Burgos Rijo (REG-ESP). Giant Asia Racing Team achieved a lot by winning both the best team and best Asian team. The final KOM went to Oscar Garcia ((REG-ESP).
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By Chen Yuhua |
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