The Americans are in charge of the rankings

The Tour of Beijing closes the season again after an absence from the calendar since 3 years ago. The race in China is not very popular among the teams and riders and taking advantage that the race is HC this year only 11 teams are showing up. That will leave a rather small bunch of 77 riders to fight for the last stage race of the year.

The race structure is much changed from 2011, there are no time trials now in the 5 days of racing and the GC will be decided in the climb to the Miaofeng Mountain, in the penultimate day of the race. The queen stage is rather short, at only 149 kilometers, but has another demanding climb halfway through the day. The type of rider that might win the race has therefore changed substantially. It is most likely that climbers will top the GC.

Favorites:

- Laurens Ten Dam (Cannondale Pro Cycling): Cannondale probably thought that Beijing would be a good chance for Ten Dam to have a race with not so many top riders and scrap some valuable points for the World Tour classification. However, the Dutch has widely beaten all the expectations put in him this season. He has been 2nd in the Paris - Nice and had top 10s in Tirreno - Adriatico, Criterium du Dauphine and the Vuelta a España.
- Andy Schleck (Omega Pharma - Quickstep): Quickstep has been underachieving all season but Andy Schleck was not among the worst of the team. The Luxembourgish still has to make an impact in terms of results but he still got a stage in the Vuelta and was 4th in Liege. Andy is still missing a win in a stage race and Beijing could well be the place where he starts shining.
- Robert Gesink (Belkin Pro Cycling Team): Robert Gesink was supposed to be the fourth man for Belkin in the mountains but he has found plenty of moments to shine thanks to his attacking style. His best result of the season is undoubtedly the fourth place he got in the Tour de France. He can time trial quite well for a climber but that will be of no use in Beijing this time.
- Juan Jose Cobo (Sky Procycling): Cobo is Sky's main rider for the stage races but his season can be classified as very inconsistent. He seemed to be quite fit in the Tour de France but lost 8 minutes in the stage finishing in Porrentruy. On the other hand, he already climbed to the 3rd place in the podium in the Volta a Catalunya in the early part of the year. A race with only one mountain-top finish and no difficult stages should fit him very well.

Other important riders that will be in China for the season closing will be Hubert Dupont (Belkin Pro Cycling Team), Pieter Weening (Omega Pharma - Quickstep), Emanuele Sella (Astana Pro Team), Chris Froome (Sky Procycling), Stefano Garzelli (Lampre - Merida) and Mathias Frank (Garmin - Sharp).

There will be quite a few sprints and some of the best sprinters have come to the race, like Marcel Kittel (Discovery Channel), Ben Swift (Sky Procycling), Andre Greipel (Radioshack - Leopard), Tyler Farrar (Team Saxo - Tinkoff), Yauheni Hutarovich (Lampre - Merida) and Jose Joaquin Rojas (HTC - Highroad).

Previous winners

	First	Second	Third
2011	Alessandro Ballan	Yauheni Hutarovich	Sacha Modolo

Startlist

Looks like an interesting start list

Stage 1: Shunyi - Huairou



The Tour of Beijing starts with a stage that is designed to finish in a mass sprint. The route is very flat and the KoM climb in the middle of the stage would barely qualify as a hill. Therefore, the only point of interest will be whether the 7 men teams make the fight against the break more interesting but considering the quality of the sprinters in the field anything different than a mass sprint for the line should be considered a major surprise.



The break of the day had 4 riders: Lars Boom (Belkin), Enrico Gasparotto (Astana), Thomas Voeckler (Garmin) and Jos van Emden (Saxo Bank). They had built a gap of 5 minutes at the KoM sprint of the day, in Shang Pu Zi (119 kilometers to go), where Lars Boom won the sprint and will wear the KoM jersey tomorrow. The control in the main bunch was surprisingly taken by Cannondale, who was taking responsibility to set a pace, although they were occasionaly relieved by Discovery Channel and Radioshack.



The stage was not too interesting as the bunch had the control of the race and no team seemed to keen to take advantage of the strong winds. With 10 kilometers remaining Lars Boom and Enrico Gasparotto are still ahead but their gap has shrunk to 25 seconds. Discovery Channel and Radioshack are the teams that have the control of the main bunch and with 7 riders per team even Thibaut Pinot is working for Marcel Kittel.



Radioshack has formed the best sprint train and they still have Simon Gerrans at the front with 3 kilometers remaining. The lead-out will be done by Daniele Bennati for Andre Greipel. Tyler Farrar and Jose Joaquin Rojas are the riders that are right behind the German. A bit further back is the Discovery Channel train. Mark Renshaw will work for Marcel Kittel, while Ben Swift and Kenny van Hummel are directly behind.



Simon Gerrans did a great job at the front of Radioshack's train and it is Daniele Bennati who is delivering Andre Greipel to the best position in ahead of the last kilometer. Discovery Channel has not managed to match the pace of the Luxembourgish team and they are dropping behind. Meanwhile, Saxo Bank seems not to be well organized as Tom Boonen and Tyler Farrar are sprinting on their own. Even though Boonen is the leader of the team he should work for Farrar in the flat stages, like today, to maximize the opportunities for a stage win.



The last corner of the stage is 500 meters from the finish line and Andre Greipel is holding the lead at that point. His main rivals for the win are going to be Yauheni Hutarovich and Tyler Farrar. Daniele Bennati is still fourth but dropping behind ahead of Tom Boonen.



Tyler Farrar wins in Huairou! The American comes back in the last meters of the stage to win ahead of Andre Greipel and take his second win of the season. The German suffered the same outcome that in many stages in the Tour. He was perfectly delivered to the last kilometer only to be beaten by one of the riders behind him. The third place went to Tom Boonen, as Saxo Bank almost managed a 1 - 2 in China.

The top 5 was completed by Jose Joaquin Rojas and Yauheni Hutarovich, underlining the good sprinters that have showed up in the outskirts of Beijing. Tyler Farrar will be the first leader of the race and he will probably continue to be in the coming stages if he picks some more bonus seconds.

Today's Winner



Stage Results

1		Tyler Farrar	Team Saxo - Tinkoff	4h18'39
2		André Greipel	RadioShack - Leopard	s.t.
3		Tom Boonen	Team Saxo - Tinkoff	s.t.
4		José Joaquín Rojas	HTC - Highroad	s.t.
5		Yauheni Hutarovich	Lampre - Merida	s.t.
6		Marcel Kittel	Discovery Channel	s.t.
7		Ben Swift	Sky Procycling	s.t.
8		Kenny Van Hummel	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
9		Grega Bole	Astana Pro Team	s.t.
10		Luca Paolini	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	s.t.

General Classification

1		Tyler Farrar	Team Saxo - Tinkoff	4h18'39
2		André Greipel	RadioShack - Leopard	+ 4
3		Tom Boonen	Team Saxo - Tinkoff	+ 6
4		José Joaquín Rojas	HTC - Highroad	+ 10
5		Yauheni Hutarovich	Lampre - Merida	s.t.
6		Marcel Kittel	Discovery Channel	s.t.
7		Ben Swift	Sky Procycling	s.t.
8		Kenny Van Hummel	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
9		Grega Bole	Astana Pro Team	s.t.
10		Luca Paolini	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	s.t.

Points

1		Tyler Farrar	Team Saxo - Tinkoff	45
2		André Greipel	RadioShack - Leopard	45
3		Yauheni Hutarovich	Lampre - Merida	31
4		Marcel Kittel	Discovery Channel	31
5		Tom Boonen	Team Saxo - Tinkoff	30

Mountain

1		Lars Boom	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	6
2		Enrico Gasparotto	Astana Pro Team	4
3		Thomas Voeckler	Garmin - Sharp	2
4		Jos Van Emden	Team Saxo - Tinkoff	1

Young

1		Luca Paolini	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	4h18'49
2		Andrew Talansky	HTC - Highroad	s.t.
3		Mark Renshaw	Discovery Channel	s.t.
4		Mauro Santambrogio	Cannondale Pro Cycling	s.t.
5		Nairo Quintana	Sky Procycling	s.t.

Teams

1		Team Saxo - Tinkoff	12h56'27
2		RadioShack - Leopard	s.t.
3		HTC - Highroad	s.t.
4		Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	s.t.
5		Discovery Channel	s.t.

Greats print by Farrar! Hasn't done much in a while. good to see him winning again like he did quite a lot a couple of years ago.

Stage 2: Huairou - Yanqing



The second stage in the Tour of Beijing is not as flat as the first one but its destiny seems to be a mass sprint anyway. The 4 categorized climbs of the day are neither hard enough nor close to the finish enough to encourage attacks and the sprinters will get through them easily anyway. The main other difference is the length of the stage. At 200 kilometers the difficulty of the stage will be much higher than yesterday.



The break of the day was quite small but the bunch is also quite small so it should not be surprising. The three riders that looked for the adventure are Gianni Meersman (Saxo Bank), Nick Nuyens (Garmin) and Anthony Roux (Astana). The reached the second intermediate sprint of the day, in Qiajiadian (92 kilometers to go), 5 minutes ahead of the main bunch. In the sprint of the bunch for the points Marcel Kittel was the quickest ahead of Andre Greipel and Ben Swift.



The last climb of the day was the Yanshantiachi. However, with 52 kilometers still remaining and not being too demanding the attacks were not on the minds of the riders in the main bunch. The break still held a gap of 4 minutes at that point but Radioshack, Saxo Bank and Cannondale were already increasing the pace of the bunch in order to control them. The three riders of the break had fought for the KoM points through the day and it was Anthony Roux who will take the KoM jersey tomorrow.



The peloton is seldom wrong when catching a break in a very clear sprint day and they did it with 10 kilometers remaining. Discovery Channel and Radioshack were the strongest teams in the front, working for the two main favorites for the day: Marcel Kittel and Andre Greipel. The bad news came in the form of crashes today as Robert Gesink and Matthias Frank both crashed with around 20 kilometers remaining. They are chasing the bunch but are losing 3 minutes.



Discovery Channel has its train well set up with 3 kilometers remaining with Mark Renshaw ready to lead out Marcel Kittel. Tom Boonen has been the smartest rider and took the wheel of the German. In Radioshack things were not that smooth as Andre Greipel has lost the wheel of Daniele Bennati and is working to take it back. Among the other sprinters that seem to be well positioned are Tyler Farrar, Yauheni Hutarovich and Ben Swift.



Mark Renshaw has taken Marcel Kittel perfectly to the last kilometer of the stage, unlike yesterday. On their right, Radioshack has also regained the positioning and Andre Greipel is ready to contend for the stage win. Enrico Gasparotto tried to go early for the final sprint but he is already losing speed with 1 kilometer remaining. Tom Boonen also seems to have gone too early.



Andre Greipel is marginally ahead of Marcel Kittel with 500 meters remaining to the finish line in Yanqing. The winner of the day seems to be among the two Germans, as the rest of the riders are behind and don't seem to be making progress. The only one that seems threatening is Ben Swift, right to the right of Greipel. On the other side of the road, Yauheni Hutarovich is currently fourth ahead of Michael Matthews.



Marcel Kittel wins in Yanqing! The Discovery Channel rider narrowly beat Andre Greipel in the last few meters of the stage. This is the 5th win of the season for the German, who had not won since the Eneco Tour in August. Greipel was second but he still got the leader's jersey on the bonus seconds from Tyler Farrar, who could only be 5th today. The third place in the stage went to Ben Swift, who almost managed to overtake the two Germans as he steadily made progress in the last part of the sprint.

The stage took the first casualties for the GC classification, as Robert Gesink and Matthias Frank both lost more than 5 minutes in the finish line after their crash with 20 kilometers to go. The handful of candidates for the podium was not very big before the start of the race and just got quite a bit narrower.

Today's Winner



Stage Results

1		Marcel Kittel	Discovery Channel	5h07'54
2		André Greipel	RadioShack - Leopard	s.t.
3		Ben Swift	Sky Procycling	s.t.
4		Yauheni Hutarovich	Lampre - Merida	s.t.
5		Tyler Farrar	Team Saxo - Tinkoff	s.t.
6		José Joaquín Rojas	HTC - Highroad	s.t.
7		Luca Paolini	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	s.t.
8		Michael Matthews	Garmin - Sharp	s.t.
9		Grega Bole	Astana Pro Team	s.t.
10		Andrew Talansky	HTC - Highroad	s.t.

General Classification

1		André Greipel	RadioShack - Leopard	9h26'31
2		Tyler Farrar	Team Saxo - Tinkoff	+ 2
3		Marcel Kittel	Discovery Channel	s.t.
4		Anthony Roux	Astana Pro Team	+ 6
5		Ben Swift	Sky Procycling	+ 8
6		Tom Boonen	Team Saxo - Tinkoff	s.t.
7		Gianni Meersman	Team Saxo - Tinkoff	+ 10
8		Yauheni Hutarovich	Lampre - Merida	+ 12
9		José Joaquín Rojas	HTC - Highroad	s.t.
10		Luca Paolini	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	s.t.

Points

1		André Greipel	RadioShack - Leopard	91
2		Marcel Kittel	Discovery Channel	85
3		Tyler Farrar	Team Saxo - Tinkoff	74
4		Yauheni Hutarovich	Lampre - Merida	66
5		Ben Swift	Sky Procycling	61

Mountain

1		Anthony Roux	Astana Pro Team	29
2		Nick Nuyens	Garmin - Sharp	25
3		Gianni Meersman	Team Saxo - Tinkoff	24
4		Jos Van Emden	Team Saxo - Tinkoff	10
5		Lars Boom	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	6

Young

1		Gianni Meersman	Team Saxo - Tinkoff	9h26'41
2		Luca Paolini	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	+ 2
3		Andrew Talansky	HTC - Highroad	s.t.
4		Mauro Santambrogio	Cannondale Pro Cycling	s.t.
5		Mark Renshaw	Discovery Channel	s.t.

Teams

1		Cannondale Pro Cycling	28h20'09
2		Garmin - Sharp	s.t.
3		Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	s.t.
4		Astana Pro Team	s.t.
5		Belkin Pro Cycling Team	s.t.

It's Great to see the sprinters having a good battle

Only until we reach Miaofeng Mountain

Matthias Frank has been by far the biggest surprise of 2014. The Garmin rider has turned from being a domestique that barely deserved a place in a World Tour team to the podium of the Tour de France in a few months time. The story of this year's Tour de France is well known but it is worth remembering the conditions that led to Frank ending in the podium of the most prestigious race of the World.

The race had started all right for Matthias Frank, who sat in the 20th place before the Vosges stages. In the stage with the finish in La Planche des Belles Filles the Swiss managed to get himself into the break and took a quality win beating the likes of Cadel Evans and Dries Devenyns clearly in the last climb of the day. His margin at the finish line was big enough to hold the lead with 1 minute over Bauke Mollema. From that day on Garmin worked at a very slow pace in the mountain stages and the lack of ambition from some of the best riders meant that Frank only lost the yellow jersey in Peyragudes (stage 18). His work in the Tour had been outstanding but most commentators and fans were lef wondering we had never seen something remotely similar from Frank.

The years that preceded this achievement were largely wasted for Frank. In 2013 he managed to finish the Tour de Pologne in the 9th place but to find his most recent win before La Planche des Belles Filles we have to look at 2010, when he won 1 stage in the Tour de Romandie.

The future is now looking bright for Frank as he finishes his contract with Garmin - Sharp at the end of the year. He will most likely use his performances in the two Grand Tours this year to greatly increase the kind of money that he is currently receiving, be it by continuing at Garmin or looking for another team. He has already proven that he can do a great performance without a great team behind him so it could be a great bet for some of the middle class teams.

Best results:

Tour de France	3rd (2014), 1 stage (2014)
Vuelta a España	8th (2014)
Tour de Suisse	1 stage (2009), Points (2009)
Tour de Romandie	7th (2010), 1 stage (2010)
Tour de Pologne	9th (2013)

UCI World Tour Rankings:

- 2009 BMC Racing Team: 47th (57.11 pts)
- 2010 Liquigas - Cannondale: 49th (49.78 pts)
- 2011 Liquigas - Cannondale: 131st (1.56 pts)
- 2012 BMC Racing Team: 130th (1.08 pts)
- 2013 Team Garmin - Sharp: 91st (15.69 pts)

Stage 3: Yanqing - Qianjiadian



The third stage in Beijing will most likely end in a sprint as well but this time it is not so clear. The stage is a continuous succession of hills, especially in the first part of the stage. Halfway through the riders will have to face a tough climb, the Si Hai, with 10 kilometers averaging 5.2%. The last of the climbs is only 11 kilometers from the finish line. It is probable that some of the sprinters will not be able to go through to contend the sprint.



The break was again in the small side today, as only Thomas Voeckler (Garmin) and Enrico Gasparotto (Astana) managed to break away from the bunch. They reached the tough climb of Si Hai, 75 kilometers to go, with a gap of 4' 30'' on the main bunch. Cannondale and Radioshack are setting the pace in the bunch. The main battle of the day was the one for the KoM jersey as lots of points were available. Thomas Voeckler was the first at the top of the Si Hai but Nick Nuyens currently holds the lead ahead of Enrico Gasparotto.



The second intermediate sprint of the day was placed in Xiaochuan (48 kilometers from the finish line). Andre Greipel took the points in a bid to win the points jersey at the end of the race. The German beat Kanny van Hummel and Yauheni Hutarovich in the sprint. The sprint was at the start of the climb to Cangmigudao, were Gasparotto took the provisional lead in the KoM classification. However, the gap of the break had greatly decreased to 1' 40''.



Fabian Cancellara did a great job for Andre Greipel in the flat section between the last two climbs of the day and the break was quickly reeled back in. When the last climb started it was Lampre and Discovery Channel who took its turn to make the race harder. It will be interesting to see whether the high pace of these kilometers will weigh on the strength of some of the sprinters.



The riders are going to make a detour around the town of Qianjiadian and are going through the village for the first time with 3 kilometers remaining. Discovery has already set up their sprint train and as usual Mark Renshaw will be leading Marcel Kittel. Jose Joaquin Rojas, one of the sprinters that goes well through the hills, has taken the wheel of the German. Radioshack are also by their side with Daniele Bennati ahead of Andre Greipel. Other sprinters that are well positioned are Yauheni Hutarovich, Michael Matthews and Tom Boonen.



Mark Renshaw is doing a great lead-out again for Marcel Kittel and the German is in a great position to take his second win in Beijing. Jose Joaquin Rojas and Michael Matthews are closing right behind. However, Radioshack was affected by the movement in the bunch in one of the turns and they have dropped quite a bit. Among the surprises of the stage is the news that Pieter Weening seems to have dropped behind the main bunch.



Marcel Kittel, Jose Joaquin Rojas and Michael Matthews enter the last corner of the stage fairly matched. It is not surprising that two of the best riders in the hills among the sprinters are challenging the German today. Slightly behind are Andre Greipel and Ben Swift but it does not seem likely that they will manage to fight for the stage win.



Michael Matthews wins in Qianjiadian! The Australian managed to get ahead of Marcel Kittel in the last meters of the stage to get his first win of the season (and most probably the last). The Garmin rider normally cannot match the speed of the best sprinters in a flat finish but the hills helped him today. The third place in the stage went to Ben Swift followed by Jose Joaquin Rojas and Andre Greipel.

The queen stage of the Tour of Beijing will take place tomorrow but today there were two disappointing performances by Emanuele Sella and Pieter Weening. Both lost 2' 30'' at the finish line. It might be understandable for Weening if he is working for Andy Schleck to win tomorrow but Sella's loss threw Astana chances in the GC out of the window.

Today's Winner



Stage Results

1		Michael Matthews	Garmin - Sharp	4h18'14
2		Marcel Kittel	Discovery Channel	s.t.
3		Ben Swift	Sky Procycling	s.t.
4		José Joaquín Rojas	HTC - Highroad	s.t.
5		André Greipel	RadioShack - Leopard	s.t.
6		Tom Boonen	Team Saxo - Tinkoff	s.t.
7		Yauheni Hutarovich	Lampre - Merida	s.t.
8		Filippo Pozzato	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	s.t.
9		Luca Paolini	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	s.t.
10		Grega Bole	Astana Pro Team	s.t.

General Classification

1		Marcel Kittel	Discovery Channel	13h44'39
2		André Greipel	RadioShack - Leopard	+ 2
3		Michael Matthews	Garmin - Sharp	+ 8
4		Tyler Farrar	Team Saxo - Tinkoff	s.t.
5		Ben Swift	Sky Procycling	+ 10
6		Anthony Roux	Astana Pro Team	+ 12
7		Tom Boonen	Team Saxo - Tinkoff	+ 14
8		Gianni Meersman	Team Saxo - Tinkoff	+ 16
9		Yauheni Hutarovich	Lampre - Merida	+ 17
10		José Joaquín Rojas	HTC - Highroad	+ 18

Points

1		Marcel Kittel	Discovery Channel	134
2		André Greipel	RadioShack - Leopard	133
3		Yauheni Hutarovich	Lampre - Merida	98
4		Ben Swift	Sky Procycling	97
5		José Joaquín Rojas	HTC - Highroad	83

Mountain

1		Enrico Gasparotto	Astana Pro Team	52
2		Nick Nuyens	Garmin - Sharp	50
3		Thomas Voeckler	Garmin - Sharp	46
4		Anthony Roux	Astana Pro Team	29
5		Jos Van Emden	Team Saxo - Tinkoff	28

Young

1		Gianni Meersman	Team Saxo - Tinkoff	13h44'55
2		Luca Paolini	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	+ 2
3		Andrew Talansky	HTC - Highroad	s.t.
4		Mark Renshaw	Discovery Channel	s.t.
5		Nairo Quintana	Sky Procycling	s.t.

Teams

1		Cannondale Pro Cycling	41h14'51
2		Belkin Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
3		Garmin - Sharp	s.t.
4		Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	s.t.
5		HTC - Highroad	s.t.

And ''Bling'' grabs the win

Transfer market update 1

With the season drawing to an end it is the time for the teams to announce the contract extensions and new signings for the 2015 season.

The greatest surprise of the end of the season has come from one of the stars of the season, Tejay van Garderen. The American will leave BMC and head towards the renewed Trek Factory Racing. Trek has been disappointed with the results of Frank Schleck this season and decided to put the cash in the table to sign the Tour de France winner. BMC had already assumed that something like this might happen as they did not have the resources to keep their two Grand Tour superstars.

Having let Van Garderen go, BMC Racing Team soon announced that the leader of the World Tour rankings, Peter Stetina had renewed his contract with the Swiss-American team. The American, who has won the Vuelta a España and the Paris - Nice this year, will become the best paid rider in the peloton with a salary of 1.5 million euros per year.

Another big surprise came from Team Sky, as the British team has secured the signing of the Belgian star cobbler Tom Boonen. The British team will probably lose Gregory Rast at the end of the season and they replaced him with Boonen with the target of winning in the spring classics. As in Saxo - Tinkoff, the Belgian will not have responsibilities in the sprints as Ben Swift is the rider designed for that task in Sky.

Elsewhere, there have been a few other contract renewals, such as Jelle Vanendert extending his contract in Lotto - Belisol, Bauke Mollema adding 2 more years to his contract in Vacansoleil - DMC and another of the rising stars of the season, Laurens Ten Dam, also staying in Cannondale.

Liking the sound of Tom Boonen heading for Sky

Hopefully he will repeat some of the wins that he has had lately, like Gent - Wevelgem.

Stage 4: Yanqing - Miaofeng Mountain



The fourth stage in the Tour of Beijing is the one that will decide the outcome of the general classification. The stage is not very long but finishes at the top of the Miaofeng Mountain, a 15 kilometers long climb. Even though the slopes are not very high in gradient it length should be enough to make the sprinters that are currently at the top of the classification drop behind the climbers.



The break of the day was quite large compared to what we have seen so far in the Tour of Beijing. 6 riders were ahead as they tackled the first big climb of the day, the Xianrendong. The most important riders in the group were Anthony Roux (Astana), Lars Boom (Belkin), Jean-Christophe Peraud (Radioshack) and Chris Anker Sorensen (Saxo Bank). They had a gap of 5' 40'' at the top of the climb. Roux was the only rider interested in the KoM points and could take the red dots jersey if he is first in the first couple of climbs.



The second intermediate sprint of the day was placed after the descent of the second climb of the day, in Xifengshan. Surprisingly, Marcel Kittel and Andre Greipel decided not to go for the points and Michael Matthews took the sprint ahead of Luca Paolini and Yauheni Hutarovich. Meanwhile, the break had lost one man due to the crash of Michal Kwiatkowski and was leading by 3 minutes.



Chris Anker Sorensen was alone at the front of the race after a desperate attack shortly before the start of the climb to Miaofeng Mountain. He started the climb with 1' 20'' over a group of 4 riders: Chris Horner, Oliver Zaugg, Luke Durbridge and Simon Gerrans. Meanwhile, the peloton was close to this group but not really worried as the attackers are not very dangerous to the top climbers.



Simon Gerrans and Chris Horner are about to catch Chris Anker Sorensen for the lead with 10 kilometers remaining. Their first attack was unsuccessful but the bunch is now 50 seconds behind. Sky is taking a lot of responsibility to set the pace in the main group as Chris Froome is setting the pace for Juanjo Cobo. There are around 55 riders in the bunch, including the current leader, Marcel Kittel.



The serious attacks in the main bunch started in the main bunch started with a bit more than 7 kilometers remaining. Unsurprisingly, it was Juanjo Cobo who hit first but it was Laurens Ten Dam and Hubert Dupont who opened a gap and are about to catch Chris Horner in the front of the race. The American had earlier increased the pace and left behind Sorensen and Gerrans easily. The gap for the leading three riders is around 25 seconds at this point.



There have been several attacks but in the end all of them end up being reeled back by the main bunch, especially by Sky and Discovery Channel. With 4 kilometers remaining the team of the leader managed to put Thibaut Pinot in a break, joined by Andy Schleck, Hubert Dupont and Stefano Garzelli. They have 15 seconds on the group of the favorites, where Chris Froome is tirelessly bringing back attacks.



Chris Froome has done a great job of keeping the gap of that group in the few seconds margin and with 2 kilometers remaining Emanuele Sella took advantage of that work to bridge the gap to the front group. The differences are very small among the top 20 riders in the stage. As expected, Marcel Kittel has already lost quite a bit of time and will pass the leader's jersey at the end of the stage.



Andy Schleck attacked from the front group and opened a small gap of 10 seconds inside the last kilometer. It could well be enough to take the stage and the leader's jersey. The chasing riders in the group of the favorites are Stefano Garzelli, Hubert Dupont, Laurens Ten Dam and Juanjo Cobo. Any time gap will be very important at the end of the race and the bonus seconds today could decide the overall winner of the race.



Andy Schleck wins in Miaofeng Mountain! The Luxembourgish takes his second stage win of the season after the one he got in the Vuelta a España. He will also be the leader of the race 4 seconds ahead of the second placed in the stage, Laurens Ten Dam. Robert Gesink took the third place ahead of his teammate Hubert Dupont and Stefano Garzelli. However, the Dutch had lost time due to a crash in the second stage and is far behind in the GC.

As expected, the leader Marcel Kittel lost more than 1 minute in the finish line and drops outside of the top 10 in the GC. With only one stage remaining there are 15 riders that are tied on the same time for the 3rd place in the GC and a place in the podium. One bonus second or a good position in the final sprint could revamp the order of the GC.

Today's Winner



Stage Results

1		Andy Schleck	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	3h43'08
2		Laurens Ten Dam	Cannondale Pro Cycling	s.t.
3		Robert Gesink	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
4		Hubert Dupont	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
5		Stefano Garzelli	Lampre - Merida	s.t.
6		Bart De Clercq	Lampre - Merida	s.t.
7		Juan José Cobo	Sky Procycling	s.t.
8		Emanuele Sella	Astana Pro Team	s.t.
9		Thibaut Pinot	Discovery Channel	s.t.
10		Chris Froome	Sky Procycling	s.t.

General Classification

1		Andy Schleck	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	17h27'55
2		Laurens Ten Dam	Cannondale Pro Cycling	+ 4
3		Andrew Talansky	HTC - Highroad	+ 10
4		Hubert Dupont	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
5		Johan Vansummeren	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	s.t.
6		Bart De Clercq	Lampre - Merida	s.t.
7		Juan José Cobo	Sky Procycling	s.t.
8		Simon Gerrans	RadioShack - Leopard	s.t.
9		Janez Brajkovi�	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	s.t.
10		Stefano Garzelli	Lampre - Merida	s.t.

Points

1		Marcel Kittel	Discovery Channel	134
2		André Greipel	RadioShack - Leopard	133
3		Yauheni Hutarovich	Lampre - Merida	103
4		Ben Swift	Sky Procycling	98
5		José Joaquín Rojas	HTC - Highroad	88

Mountain

1		Anthony Roux	Astana Pro Team	59
2		Enrico Gasparotto	Astana Pro Team	52
3		Nick Nuyens	Garmin - Sharp	50
4		Thomas Voeckler	Garmin - Sharp	48
5		Jos Van Emden	Team Saxo - Tinkoff	28

Young

1		Andrew Talansky	HTC - Highroad	17h28'05
2		Gianni Meersman	Team Saxo - Tinkoff	+ 1'28
3		Mark Renshaw	Discovery Channel	+ 1'30
4		Nairo Quintana	Sky Procycling	s.t.
5		Jan Barta	Lampre - Merida	s.t.

Teams

1		Belkin Pro Cycling Team	52h24'15
2		Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	s.t.
3		HTC - Highroad	+ 1'17
4		RadioShack - Leopard	s.t.
5		Cannondale Pro Cycling	+ 1'30

Schleck winning something?

ANDY

I didn't think there were any Andy fans left in the world.

well I've always liked Schleck better then Contador and now I'm hoping that he can go back to his old form. always better then Froome, Nibali or Contador

Transfer market update 2

Robert Gesink was a bit disappointed at the end of today's stage given that his third place in the Miaofeng Mountain would not give him a good GC place. However, this was the time when Ag2r - La Mondiale announced the signing of the Dutch climber as the team leader for the next season. The French team is looking for a big star to revert their bad season and Gesink also wanted a team where he could be the leader.

Another surprising move in the transfer market was announced today, as Marcel Kittel will move to the Astana Pro Team at the end of the season. This is a rather odd move, as the German is one of the top sprinters in the world, along with Ben Swift and Jose Joaquin Rojas. However, to make the move easier and set up a good lead-out train for him they have also signed Luca Paolini.

Among the new Pro Continental teams, Giant - Shimano has been the first team to announce one of their riders for the next season. It will be Stefan van Dijk, who will arrive from HTC. The Dutch sprinter has not been able to shine against World Tour rivals, although he took a stage in the Eneco Tour, but the lower category should help him find weaker fields where he can fight for stage wins.

A few contract renewals have been also announced, such as Rob Ruijgh staying at Belkin Pro Cycling Team, Mikel Nieve renewing his contract for 2 seasons with Discovery Channel and the Tour de France podium Matthias Frank staying as the leader of Garmin - Sharp.