STAGE 3: Men Tou Gou - Yong Ning Town 160 KM's

Stage Favourites:
***Duarte(EML) **Kruijswijk(BSC) *Eijssen(RAB)

This is the deciding day for the GC. We have two considerable climbs in the last 30 kilometres before a 9 kilometre descent to the finish. Whoever is on top at the end of the stage will likely win the last WT race of the season.

A quality break got away including Yeray Garcia and Dementyev.

We hit the penultimate climb with 30 kilometres to go and the break at 3'10. Cziraki and Rojas have nothing left so Kritskiy attacks. He quickly passes late attackers, Ponzi and Brambilla and surprisingly catches the break with 3 kilometres still to go on the climb.

Only Dementyev can stay with Kritskiy as four riders (Phelan, Majka, Ulissi and Koren) attack across to join the two. Behind the action is over, the selection has been made.

Ulissi and Majka attack again over the top of the final climb, despite Kritskiy feeling great he could not go with the in form riders and with 9 kilometres to go he trails the duo by'55.

He manages to distance the Polish rider in the final and notches up a combative victory. Kritskiy finishes 4th but has to submit his GC lead to Majka. Majka recently won the Settimana Lombarda and his uncharacteristic great prologue shows he is in great form.

Even though less than '20 separate Kritskiy from the lead we only have 2 pan flat stages left so a GC change is very unlikely. These 2 said stages are the last for us this season.

Stage Favourites:
***Guardini(YTE) **Matthews(FAR)
*Cavendish(HLE)

C.S.Long got into the break. There was a huge torrent of attacks towards the finish but we would end the season with a sprint....

Despite losing some of his top end speed we end the season with yet another win for the Manxman.

We end Beijing with a stage win and 2nd place for Kritskiy. A fitting end to a successful season for the team.

He has shown himself to be a competent time trialist and has a great persona which will, no doubt, keep up team morale.

Close sources say this character has a great sprint on him just waiting to be developed.

This Omani rider was with us form 2017-2019. After a year at our continental team we are glad to have him back. He is a flat out specialist at short prologues.

We only end up topping the WT rankings at the end of the season. Sure we capitulated in the Vuelta and didn't have a stand our TDF. But, we won Paris Nice, Tirreno Adriatico, Classique Sahara, Milan San Remo and finished on the podium in the Vuelta and the Giro. 2020 was the greatest year for Qatar Optics results wise. To top the WT rankings in such style in our first WT year is some achievement.

We didn't have a standout rider in the rankings, instead we had steady contributors. Velo d'or winner, Elissonde, wins the prize for the second straight year and tops the WT rankings thanks largely to winning the TDF supported by a 2nd at the Eneco tour and a 6th place in the Giro. He is not competing in the peloton next season so the field will be open to carry on his good work.

KLM were always seen in the breaks and despite Majka winning the last WT race of the season they are doomed to the continental division next season. After John Deere picked up some WT points in Beijing, Katusha are relegated to the continental division as well. As Katusha had one of the standout GT riders of the century, Pinot, how they managed to get relegated I do not know! Katusha will be replaced by LG next season.

Euskaltel Euskadi will be back in the WT after one year in the continental division. They comfortably amassed more CQ points than any other continental team, largely thanks to a very impressive Vuelta performance from Garabay and co.

They will be joined by Giant Berry, lead by Ponzi, they won many races throughout the season and will be riding as United Healthcare in the WT next season.

Fastman Ponzi's ability to win sprints and cope with the hills sees him top the continental rankings. For much of the year Bole topped the rankings but he had a quiet second half to the season as did his team, Luxair, who looked a shoe in for promotion early on in the season.

Just days after Abdulatif Al Zaid accidently blabbered to the Qatari press that, next season, the team is to be joined by a statuesque rider coming out of retirement another big event has happened which will make it impossible to keep the surprise a secret....

By now all of the cycling world has no doubt seen the leaked picture which pretty much reveals who our 'statuesque rider coming out of retirement' is ! The secret is out now, so I may as well post the picture right here and now.