author：qinghaihu publish time：2015-07-08
Gangcha, CHINA—A sudden attack from Russian Ivan Savitskiy (RusVelo) inside the closing 2 kilometres caught current points leader Marko Kump (Adria Mobil) off guard and helped Savitskiy take the win over Mykhaylo Kononenko (Kolss-BDC) and Kump on stage 4 of the 14th ‘Qinghai Rural Credit Cup’ Tour of Qinghai Lake (UCI 2.HC) on Wednesday, July 8 in Gangcha, China.
“With 2km to go I attacked,” explained Savitskiy post race. “I pushed to the maximum. I am very happy, as it’s my first victory in a serious race with such a high class of riders.
Kump, who won the opening two stages, was visibly frustrated after the finish. But the 26-year-old Slovenian and former Tinkoff-Saxo rider says “that’s cycling.”
“Our first goal in this race is GC (general classification),” said Kump, who spent two days in the leaders jersey before surrendering it to stage 3 winner Oleksandr Polivoda (Kolss-BDC) on Tuesday. “We are a strong team and we came to win this race.”
“This is not a stage where you win the race, but it is one where you can lose it.”
Kump’s teammate Radoslav Rogina sits third on GC after finishing third on stage 3. The 36-year-old Croatian was with Kump in the closing 10km and initiated the jump with 3km to go.
“Our attack was not perfect,” said Kump. “My teammate Rogina was the first to attack, but there were too many riders from Kolss and they did not let him go.
“Then the rider from RusVelo attacked and we hesitated for just a second or two which with the speed and a tailwind in the final kilometre was just too much to overcome.”
Action picked up inside the first 10km of the 185km stage from Qinghai Lake to Gangcha with a seven-man break that extended its lead to 1 minute 50 seconds at the 27km mark. The lead group consisted of Japan’s Genki Yamamoto (Nippo-Vini Fantini), Slovakia’s Thomas Harag (CK-Banska Bystrica), Uzbekistan’s Muradjan Halmuratov (Beijing Yanqin Innova Cycling Team), as well as a quartet of Chinese riders, including Shi Jie Yu (China Hainan Yindongli-Wildto), Zeng Tao Yang (China Continental Team of Gansu Bank) and Qinghai Tianuyoude teammates Jinde Zhang and Shengiun Wu.
Their gap increased to 2:41 at 45km.
Yang nabbed the first intermediate sprint at 66.6km ahead of compatriots Yu and Zhang. The break joined by a group of 43 riders led Kump prior to the second intermediate sprint, which he claimed ahead of Ukrainian Sergiy Lagkuti (Kolss-BDC) and Slovenian Matei Mugerli (Synergy-Baku).
The final intermediate sprint came at 158.2km after the lead group of 50 dwindled to 30, allowing Mexican Luis Lemus (AirGas-Safeway) to launch a solo attack to claim the final sprint points on the day ahead of Lagkuti and Azeri Samir Jabrayilov (Synergy-Baku).
Lemus was eventually joined to comprise the final group heading into the closing 35km.
The 13-stage, 2,027-kilometre Asia Tour race continues on Thursday with the short but sharp 133km ‘Qinghai Sports Development General Company’ stage 5 from Xihaizhen to Gonghe.
With Polivoda in the overall lead, followed by Italian Luka Wackermann (Southeast) at just 1 second down, and Rogina 9 seconds back, Adria Mobil is right where they want to be according to team sports director Bostjan Mervar.
“Overall, nothing changed today,” said Mervar. “I think the yellow jersey is not so strong in the climbs, so we will challenge for jersey tomorrow.”
Kump reiterated Mervar’s comments.
“I am frustrated that I did not win today,” admitted Kump. “We still have Rogina third on GC and we will fight for that and the green jersey. But the yellow jersey is our top priority.
Stage Results:
1. SAVITSKIY Ivan （RVL）
2. KONONENKO Mykhaylo (KLS)
3. KUMP Marko (ADR)
Jersey:
GC(Yellow Jersey): POLIVODA Oleksandr (KLS)
Points(Green Jersey): KUMP Marko (ADR)
Best Asia(Blue Jersey): ALIZADEH Hossein(RTS)
KOM(Polka dot Jersey): COLORADO HERNANDEZ Francisco Jarl(NFC)
