Tamijo wrote:
Fine first stage, not many sec. lost. Will most likely be larger gabs on the Kitzbüheler Horn tomorrow.

cunego59 wrote:
Love that preview, I just have a soft spot for those small, well-constructed pieces. Shows the effort and attention to detail you put in. A good result should be possible to accompany that, looks decent already, but it's also nice to see Konrad and Voss up there, I have to admit

05/07		138 km to Xining
06/07		150 km to Qinghai Lake
07/07		140 km to Bird Island
08/07		226 km to Xihaizhen
09/07		201 km to Mole Town Qilian
10/07		203 km to Qilian
11/07		85 km to Menyuan
12/07		210 km to Lanzhou
13/07		118 km to Lanzhou

	LAST WINNERS:		GC FAVOURITES:
	Abel Kenyeres		Muchaneta Williams
	David de la Cruz		Robert Power
	Mykhaylo Kononenko		Crescencio Iríbar
	Mirsamad Poorseyedi		Rodrigo Contreras
	Hossein Alizadeh		Dayer Quintana

	TEAM LINEUP:
	Ruben Guerreiro
	Omar Fraile
	Aridani Tinajero
	Manuel Martínez Montoro
	Hector Saez
	Fabio Silvestre
	Diego Ochoa

For such a small race this is quite a strong field with mostly younger, talented climbers. Despite the fact that we're bringing some decent climbers our primary goal is a stage win. That should be a realistic objective as we're still building up form towards the upcoming races after this one. Martínez Montoro, Silvestre and Tinajero are here for the sprints. The climbs and hills should suit Fraile, Ochoa and Guerreiro but the Portuguese youngster is our leader on paper. Saez is supposed to comport himself as a luxury domestique.

sutty68 wrote:
Good Luck in China

Tamijo wrote:
"such a small race" ?
It is highest level just under World tour, not that small after all. But as it is the time of TDF no top top riders will be present.

Good luck.

the_hoyle wrote:
Not followed the story section in a while, but just had a quick catch up here. Great story and very well written. I'll keep an eye on it more closely

This year's edition is kicked off with a pan flat circuit race in and around the city of Xining, a to Chinese standards small city (± 2 million people) located some 90 kms east of the lake this race ows its name to.

Thanks to this year's strong field, we have 3 WT riders in the breakaway: time trial talent Costa (Garmin), Fernández (Katusha) and Ignatenko (Tinkoff). They are strong. It takes the pack until kilometer 118 (out of 138) to take them back.

The next it is Lotto's train that seems to overpower all the other ones.

Eventually it is Verhelst who outsprints the others in a close fight. He may thank his teammates for their hard work all day long.

Just outside the top 10, Tinajero is our top finisher in 12th with Silvestre coming closing behind. Team leader Guerreiro has a complete off-day and finishes in second to last.

1		Louis Verhelst	Lotto Soudal	2h56'17"
2		Philip Lavery	Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
3		Marco Haller	MTN-Qhubeka	s.t.
4		Guillaume Boivin	Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies	s.t.
5		Eduardo Estrada	Colombia	s.t.
6		Andrea Zordan	Lampre-Merida	s.t.
7		Ivan Savitskiy	Team Katusha	s.t.
8		Shiki Kuroeda	NIPPO - Vini Fantini	s.t.
9		Yukiya Arashiro	MTN-Qhubeka	s.t.
10		Dennis Bakker	Torku Seker Spor	s.t.
…	…	…	…	…
12		Aridani Tinajero	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	s.t.

1		Louis Verhelst	Lotto Soudal	2h56'17"
2		Philip Lavery	Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling	+ 4"
3		Adrien Costa	Team Cannondale - Garmin	+ 5"
4		Marco Haller	MTN-Qhubeka	+ 6"
5		Petr Ignatenko	Tinkoff-Saxo	+ 6"
6		Delio Fernández	Team Katusha	+ 7"
7		Guillaume Boivin	Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies	+ 10"
8		Eduardo Estrada	Colombia	+ 10"
9		Andrea Zordan	Lampre-Merida	+ 10"
10		Ivan Savitskiy	Team Katusha	+ 10"

After yesterday's stage to Kühtai, the riders are facing an even harder climb today, the Kitzbüheler Horn (12km @ 9.3% avg. , 13.3% max.)

A big breakaway group is fighting for KoM points only as it is clear the big guns will strike on the Kitzbüheler Horn.

The group is reeled in just before the climb and the favourites break clear immediately. We still have Vandenborre, Intxausti and a surprisingly strong Klever present. But when Konrad accelerates, he's gone.

The young Austrian fights until the line without raising his hand as to make the gap as big as possible. Behind, Intxausti has also made a gap himself. Klever and Vandenborre are in the groups behind and both enter the top 10 in the GC, while Intxausti moves up to 2nd, far behind Konrad though.

1		Patrick Konrad	Bora - Argon 18	3h56'30
2		Beñat Intxausti	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	+ 1'48"
3		Juan Chamorro	Colombia	+ 2'41"
4		Peter Velits	IAM Cycling	s.t.
5		Jonathan Klever	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	s.t.
6		Ben Gastauer	Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
7		Eduard Beltran	Colombia	+ 3'35"
8		Sam Vandenborre	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	+ 3'45"
9		Stefan Denifl	Team Felbermayr Simplon Wels	+ 4'52"
10		Peter Stetina	BMC Racing Team	+ 5'55"

1		Patrick Konrad	Bora - Argon 18	8h54'57
2		Beñat Intxausti	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	+ 2'25"
3		Juan Chamorro	Colombia	+ 3'00"
4		Ben Gastauer	Ag2r La Mondiale	+ 3'08"
5		Peter Velits	IAM Cycling	+ 3'24"
6		Jonathan Klever	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	+ 4'14"
7		Eduard Beltran	Colombia	+ 4'18"
8		Sam Vandenborre	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	+ 4'28"
9		Stefan Denifl	Team Felbermayr Simplon Wels	+ 5'19"
10		Peter Stetina	BMC Racing Team	+ 6'38"

Smowz wrote:
I have just read through this whole thing. Really nice story Kiserlowski - defo enjoying the ride with Caja, a team I love playing with and close to my heart after playing with them in EPIC for a short while.

Intxausti replacing Arroyo as teams GC star and a few other nice riders makes this a team with chances. Incredible WT success as well - LBL is a massive win for such a team - we may expect Spanish stage race wins and high GC but to conquer Belgium is very good.

sutty68 wrote:
A steady start in China but what a day you had in Austria with three in the first eight

Tamijo wrote:
Beñat Intxausti looking good after a very hard stage, a podium is in sight.

The Schleck Fan wrote:
Good ride by Intxausti.
And congrats on winning La Doyenne

the_hoyle wrote:
Great ride from Intxausti!

Not much to tell about today's stage. Our guy couldn't take pictures of the race due to technical problems. We apologise for the inconvenience.

We can tell you something about the results though. Saez was our only guy who managed to stay with the pack, finishing 10" behind stage winner José Herrada. You can find the stage results and the current GC standings below.

1		José Herrada	Team Katusha	3h36'44"
2		Gregory Brenes	Team Cannondale - Garmin	+ 10"
3		Thomas De Gendt	Lotto Soudal	s.t.
4		Matthew Busche	Team Cannondale - Garmin	s.t.
5		Hiroki Nishimura	MTN-Qhubeka	s.t.
6		Moreno Moser	Movistar Team	s.t.
7		Raffaello Bonusi	NIPPO - Vini Fantini	s.t.
8		Carlos Verona	Movistar Team	s.t.
9		Lucas Euser	Team Cannondale - Garmin	s.t.
10		Michael Van Staeyen	Lotto Soudal	s.t.
…		…	…	…
26		Hector Saez	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	s.t.

1		José Herrada	Team Katusha	6h32'51"
2		Gregory Brenes	Team Cannondale - Garmin	+ 14"
3		Adrien Costa	Team Cannondale - Garmin	+ 15"
4		Thomas De Gendt	Lotto Soudal	+ 16"
5		Petr Ignatenko	Tinkoff-Saxo	s.t.
6		Delio Fernández	Team Katusha	+ 17"
7		Michael Van Staeyen	Lotto Soudal	+ 20"
8		Andrea Zordan	Lampre-Merida	s.t.
9		Guillaume Boivin	Team Optum	s.t.
10		Egor Silin	Tinkoff-Saxo	s.t.
…	…	…	…	…
34		Hector Saez	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	s.t.