author：qinghaihu publish time：2024-07-08
Eric Fagundez (Burgos-BH) has triumphed after a short but enthralling 112km stage from Duoba to Huzhu, taking his first professional victory.
The Burgos-BH rider emerged as the fastest from small group of six, outsprinting David Baldaccini (Corratec Vini Fantini) and Saeid Safarzadeh (Tianyoude Hotel Cycling Team).
It’s clear the memory of losing the general classification on countback to Henok Mulueberhan (Astana-Qazaqstan) in last year’s Tour of Qinghai Lake’s final stage still resonates within Fagundez.
Now, the young Uruguayan has found redemption, winning today’s stage and taking the overall lead by four-seconds.
Despite being only 112km long today’s stage proved decisive for the general classification contenders as the race route pushed the peloton into the mountains early, climbing up to 3,350m high.
Luke Mudgway (Li Ning Stars) cleverly chalked up the early intermediate sprint points prior to the decisive category one climb but wasn’t able to keep the jersey, as Italian Enrico Zancello (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizane) sprinted from a diminished peloton to finish 9th and will wear the green points jersey for tomorrow’s stage.
The pace on the first climb proved too much for race leader Jensen Plowright (Alpecin-Deceuninck), the Australian lost a handful of minutes and wasn’t able to re-join the main peloton.
Towards the top Mario Aparicio (Burgos-BH) jumped from a select group of favourites.
The Spaniard stayed away for 60km and made the most of his time out in front, claiming the maximum king of the mountain points and secured the jersey.
Surprisingly the category three climbed provided some action, the peloton slimmed down thanks to an injection of pace from Caja Rural-Seguros RGA who seemed intent for a reduced bunch kit to suit Thomas Silva.
However, there wasn’t enough control from Caja Rural-Seguros RGA and after a flurry of attacks Baldaccini and Fagundez forced a move with 5km to go, bringing along Victor Ocampo (Team Medellin), Saeid Safarzadeh (Tianyoude Hotel Cycling Team), Manuele Tarrozzi (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizane) and Ewout De Keyser (Tarteletto-Isorex).
Fagundez was patient, waiting until the last 150 metres before launching his sprint from the wheel of Baldaccini, taking his first professional victory.
Safarzadeh was rewarded for his efforts today and will wear the blue jersey for the best Asian rider.
Stage 3 of the Tour of Qinghai Lake begins in Huzhu and will see peloton ride 202km to Guide.
