Everything good for Eefting taking two wins in two day

author：qinghaihu  publish time：2019-07-26

By: Samuel Turner

Roy Eefting of Memil Pro Cycling has had back to back victories, winning the twelfth stage in the Tour of Qinghai Lake. Eduard Grosu (Delko Marseille Provence) took a close second and Georgios Bouglas (Ningxia Sports Lottery) came in third. Robinson Chalapud (Medellin) and Grosu have all but secured their jerseys, yellow and green respectively.
Today’s semi-circuit race in Zhongwei saw 111km consisting of three important sprint opportunities. The city environment was a welcomed relief to riders who braved intense heat in yesterday’s desert stage. Great riding conditions made the flat, low altitude stage easy for racers and was always going to favour sprinters who intended on picking up maximum points.

Bouglas took out the first bonus sprint and after that a breakaway of four riders took place. Angel Sanchez (FC Porto), Mateusz Taciak (Vosters ATS), Oguzhan Tiryaki (Salcano Sakaraya BB) and Oleksandr Polivoda (Ningxia Sports Lottery) jostled throughout the breakaway, with Taciak taking the second sprint and Polivoda taking the third.

With one lap to go, Sanchez rode alone at the front of the race. However as the pace increased, he was consumed by the rest of the bunch. The lead changed multiple times before the final stretch and a battle between Grosu and Eefting began 200m from the finish.

Incredibly, Eefting took the sprint, making it only his second pro win after yesterday’s first.

“Two very, very good days,” he said cheerfully.

Eefting found the breakaway made for a more controlled pace in the bunch and that helped him and his team maintain position throughout the semi-circuit race.

“It was quite nice to have a loop like this,” he said. “You know the course after a few loops and it’s easier in the final to be where you need to be.”

After besting some of the best sprinters in the tour two days in a row, Eefting claimed his victory came to his previous experience in track speed. The gruelling high altitude stages didn’t work so well for him and Memil, but he found some real form in the past couple days.

“The mountain stages were all about making time trial and preserving energy,” he told reporters. “Now it’s my time.”

Second place Grosu commended the young Dutchman on his stellar effort. He now focuses on finishing the Tour of Qinghai Lake tomorrow with maximum effort and with his green jersey lead intact.

“I won’t take it easy,” Grosu said bluntly. “I want to take another victory home, so tomorrow I will try again and I hope I can do it.”

With only one day left of the Tour of Qinghai Lake, all of the teams are looking to end this awesome event with a victory. Memil simply want to keep the victories coming and enjoy the magical tour in China.

“Let’s keep it going!” Eefting cheered.