On July 12, the 2nd stage of the 25th 2026 "Great Qinghai Lake" International Road Cycling Race kicked off in Huangyuan. Riders headed north, conquered the Beishan Pass and Daban Mountain, and finally arrived at Menyuan.

On July 12, the 2nd stage of the 25th 2026 "Great Qinghai Lake" International Road Cycling Race kicked off in Huangyuan. Riders headed north, conquered the Beishan Pass and Daban Mountain, and finally arrived at Menyuan.

Following the curtain-raiser in the Xining Criterium that decided the opening-day winner, the second stage came right after. After tackling high-altitude climbs and completing a course of over 200 kilometers, the stage champion was crowned in Menyuan. Gabriele Bessega (BESSEGA Gabriele) from Italy's Botti - Explore Malta Team outperformed all rivals to claim the stage victory, and seized the yellow jersey from Alexander Salby. Marco Manenti (MANENTI Marco) from Italy's Biesse Carrera Team and Raman Tsishkou (TSISHKOU Raman) from Li-Ning Star Team took the second and third places on the stage podium respectively.

Stage Top 3‌

Stage Winner, 2nd Place, 3rd Place

In terms of leader jerseys, Gabriele Bessega (BESSEGA Gabriele) claimed the ICBC General Classification Yellow Jersey; Marco Manenti (MANENTI Marco) put on the "Jinhui Jiu" Sprint King Green Jersey; Jonathan Klever Caicedo Cepeda (CAICEDO CEPEDA Jonathan KleVER) from Lunfeng ROTOR Chengdu Team took the KOM Polka Dot Jersey by earning points in breakaways; Tegshbayar Batsaikhan (BATSAIKHAN Tegshbayar) from Thailand's Lu Jia Insurance Team retained the "PEAK" Best Asian Rider Blue Jersey.

Gabriele Bessega (BESSEGA Gabriele) - Winner of the ICBC General Classification Yellow Jersey

Marco Manenti (MANENTI Marco) - Winner of the "Jinhui Jiu" Sprint King Green Jersey

Jonathan Klever Caicedo Cepeda (CAICEDO CEPEDA Jonathan Klever) - Winner of the "China Sports Lottery" KOM Polka Dot Jersey

Tegshbayar Batsaikhan (BATSAIKHAN Tegshbayar) - Winner of the "PEAK" Best Asian Rider Blue Jersey

The 2nd stage, the "Jinhui Jiu" Huangyuan - Menyuan stage, covers a total distance of 225 kilometers, with 2 categorized climbs and 3 intermediate sprint points.

The race started at the Danjiaer Ancient City in Huangyuan under cloudy skies, with a temperature of 14°C, and a total of 146 riders took part.

Almost right after the start, the riders faced the climb up Beishan Pass. Alexander Salby (SALBY Alexander), who was wearing the yellow jersey, dropped out of the peloton early, and Markus Pajur (PAJUR Markus), who was in the polka dot jersey, later fell behind the main group. The peloton maintained a very fast pace on the climb, and further split up near the summit. Jonathan Klever Caicedo Cepeda (CAICEDO CEPEDA Jonathan Klever) from Lunfeng ROTOR Chengdu Team was the first to cross the first climb point, Jon Aguirre Egaña (AGIRRE EGAÑA Jon) from Spain's Euskaltel-Euskadi Team and Cristian Rodriguez Martin (RODRIGUEZ MARTIN Cristian) from Xidesheng Astana Team finished second and third respectively.

After passing the climb point, the three riders mentioned above, along with Diego Bracalente (BRACALENTE Diego) from Hungary's MBH Bank Team, Fernando Tercero Lopez (TERCERO LOPEZ Fernando) from Italy's Botti - Explore Malta Team, and Hernan Ricardo Aguirre Caipa (AGUIRRE CAIPA Hernan Ricardo) from Qinghai Tianyoude Hotel Team, formed a breakaway group. They gradually opened a gap of over 1 minute with the peloton. Cristian Rodriguez Martin (RODRIGUEZ MARTIN Cristian) did a lot of the pace-setting work in the breakaway, while the chasing pace of the main group behind stabilized, and the time gap kept widening. A group of about 20 riders, including the yellow jersey wearer Salby, fell more than 3 minutes behind the peloton.

The breakaway riders worked together to extend their advantage to over 3 minutes. Caicedo Cepeda took the first place at the first intermediate sprint point, with Aguirre Egaña and Tercero Lopez finishing second and third. After entering the Menyuan area, the rapeseed flower fields on both sides of the track and the riders in colorful jerseys complemented each other, forming a stunning highland landscape.

With an advantage of over 3 minutes, the breakaway group arrived at the second climb point, Bahada Ban, first. Aguirre Egaña won the top spot at the climb point, followed by Caicedo Cepeda and Rodriguez Martin in second and third. The peloton chased at a relatively slow pace, and the breakaway's lead once expanded to 4 minutes. Aguirre Egaña temporarily took the top spot on the virtual general classification standings thanks to his time advantage. At the subsequent second sprint point, Caicedo Cepeda sprinted to first place again.

When the race entered the final 70 kilometers, the breakaway group gradually showed signs of fatigue after continuous efforts, and their time advantage began to shrink. After the peloton accelerated its chasing pace, Aguirre Egaña launched a solo breakaway. The remaining breakaway riders were gradually caught, and his solo effort was reeled back in by the peloton 42 kilometers before the finish line.

At the last sprint point, Samuel Fernandez Garcia (FERNANDEZ GARCIA Samuel) from Spain's Caja Rural Team took first place and immediately launched a breakaway. He held a narrow lead until he was caught 400 meters before the finish line. Then, the Xidesheng - Astana Team and Italy's Botti - Explore Malta Team launched their lead-out trains for the sprint. In the end, Gabriele Bessega (BESSEGA Gabriele) won the stage championship with a dominant advantage.