It is difficult to program a flatter 190 kilometers stage than the first in the Tour of Beijing. The opening of the route will be quiet for the favorites to the final win but a good first test for the sprinters. Alexander Kristoff, Marcel Kittel and Giacomo Nizzolo should be the names to follow today. The only difficulty will be the climb to Shang Pu Zi but nothing more than an excuse to award a mountain's jersey.
Maxime Monfort (Quickstep) will be the first rider to wear the Kom jersey as he was first in the climb to Shang Pu Zi. He was faster in the sprint than his fellow escapees: Nick Nuyens (Garmin), Jos van Emden (Orica) and Paul Martens (HTC). They had built a gap of 4' 30'' over the bunch in a few kilometers as there was a big fight to take the break of the day for many kilometers. The peloton even got together to the first intermediate sprint of the day, where Marcel Kittel took the maximum points.
The second intermediate sprint was placed 77 kilometers to the finish line, in the town of Liu Jia Dian. A lot of sprinters joined the sprint for the points but it was Alexander Kristoff who took the points this time, beating Giacomo Nizzolo and Simone Ponzi for the line. The gap to the break decreased considerably due to the increased pace in the bunch and was around 4 minutes at that point. Euskatel, Trek and Astana seem to be the teams most interested in having a mass sprint.
The stage was rather uneventful and, even though Paul Martens and Jos van Emden tried to make the break work, they were reeled back in by the main bunch with 10 kilometers to go. Cannondale and BMC helped the teams of the sprinters control the break as they do not want a break to upset their chances in the GC. Euskatel was leading the way when the break was caught with Zdenek Stybar and Dani Moreno working at the front. The mass sprint is almost guaranteed.
Euskaltel and Trek are the trains that are better positioned ahead of the last 3 kilometers of the stage. Euskaltel has Fran Ventoso leading Alexander Kristoff, while Jurgen Roelandts is right behind the Norwegian. In Trek they have Daniele Bennati ahead of Giacomo Nizzolo, given the absence of Andre Greipel. Tom Boonen is following the Trek train. Meanwhile, Astana is quite a bit behind and Marcel Kittel has Luca Paolini as his last man. It is going to be difficult for Kittel to recover.
Euskaltel has done a great job again leading Alexander Kristoff to the best position before the last kilometer. Fran Ventoso has opened a gap ahead of the other teams' trains. Only Jurgen Roelandts has been able to follow the wheel of Kristoff and the Belgian should not be a threat. Luca Paolini managed to get Marcel Kittel on par with Trek's train but there are other riders like Tom Boonen, Tyler Farrar and Chris Sutton.
Alexander Kristoff came out from behind Francisco Ventoso with 600 meters to go and only Jurgen Roelandts seemed threatening a potential win for the Norwegian. However, Roelandts is not really one of the top sprinters and seems unlikely to be able to beat the Euskaltel rider. Among those chasing behind it is Giacomo Nizzolo leading the way ahead of Marcel Kittel. Both Trek and Astana's lead outs have not been up to par with Euskaltel.
Alexander Kristoff wins in Huairou! There was no battle from Jurgen Roelandts, who finished quite happily in the second position of the stage. This is Kristoff's 8th win of the season, which almost guarantees that he will be the most prolific rider in 2015. He has been outstanding during the year but he has to be grateful that he has such strong riders around him.
The fight for the third place in the stage was won by Marcel Kittel, who was probably quicker in the sprint than Kristoff but came from too far behind. Chris Sutton and Simone Ponzi completed the top 5. The sprinters will have another chance tomorrow to fight for the win, although the stage is a bit more difficult than today's.
The second stage in the Tour of Beijing will take the riders towards the mountains at the North of Beijing. The stage starts with two consecutive climbs, so the break will hopefully be stronger than average. This combined with the fact that there is 200 kilometers in total today should make for a tougher stage than yesterday. The day will finish in Yanqing, a town in the valley at the North of the capital of China.
The break of the day was again rather small. Only 4 riders made it: Jan Barta (Lampre), Richie Porte (Orica), Ben Hermans (Discovery) and Sergey Chernetskiy (Katusha). At the third categorized climb of the day, the Cang Mi Gu Dao, they had a gap of 4' 30'' over the main bunch. With 115 kilometers remaining the day for the bunch had been quiet so far. Ben Hermans was the first to go through the KoM banner but Richie Porte was the provisional leader of the classification.
The intermediate sprint in Qianjiadian was only placed a few kilometers after the climb to Cang Mi Gu Dao. The peloton picked up the pace before the sprint, where Alexander Kristoff easily beat Marcel Kittel and Chris Sutton. The Norwegian has been very ambitious in this Tour of Beijing so far. He has many wins this season and it seems that he wants to go home with the points' jersey as well. The gap to the break came down to 3 minutes, so it seems like the stage is completely controlled.
Euskaltel probably was too anxious to bring the break back and they burnt Carlos Barredo and Dani Moreno to bring them back. With 28 kilometers to go only Ben Hermans remained in the lead, with only 20 seconds over the main bunch. Astana and Trek had already joined the front of the peloton to take control but having brought back the break this early could potentially encourage attacks from other riders.
Trek and Astana controlled the pace of the bunch in the final kilometers towards Yanqing. With 3 kilometers to go the sprint trains were set up and they seemed fairly matched today. Euskaltel would leave Fran Ventoso to lead Alexander Kristoff, while Jurgen Roelandts again took the wheel of the Norwegian. Astana had Luca Paolini ahead of Marcel Kittel, while Movistar's Matthew Goss was behind. In Trek it would be Daniele Bennati leading the way for Giacomo Nizzolo, while Chris Sutton, Simone Ponzi and Tyler Farrar were also well positioned behind the trains.
The two 90 degrees turns within the last 2 kilometers of the stage took some riders by surprise and the subsequent approximation to the last kilometer banner was quite chaotic. Euskaltel was unsurprisingly ahead but Alexander Kristoff had to do a big effort to follow the wheel of Fran Ventoso. Marcel Kittel was the most damaged rider, as he lost a lot of places and Luca Paolini completely lost him. Meanwhile, Trek maintained well their setup but were a bit behind the lead. Meanwhile, Simone Ponzi and Tyler Farrar were very aware and kept their options for a win.
Fran Ventoso was still leading Alexander Kristoff with 500 meters to go. It seems like the Spaniard could well be a contender for the win in Yanqing if he was not working for his teammates. However, it could not be as straightforward for Kristoff as it was yesterday because Giacomo Nizzolo is making big progress from behind and is close to his wheel. The rest of the field, led by Simone Ponzi and Luca Paolini seems too far back. It is strange how Paolini forgot about Marcel Kittel once the German lost track in the last couple of turns and is now sprinting for himself.
Alexander Kristoff wins in Yanqing! Two stages in China and two wins for Kristoff. This is the 9th in the season for the Norwegian, who will finish the season as the rider with the most wins in the season. It would have been hard to predict this at the start of the year. Giacomo Nizzolo came second and it was more of a threat than Jurgen Roelandts yesterday but when Kirstoff started his sprint he could do nothing to stop him. The third place went to Simone Ponzi, while Fran Ventoso and Chris Sutton completed the top 5.
Kristoff is not 11 seconds ahead of the riders that will fight for the overall win in Miaofeng Mountain but the climb is hard enough for him to know that there are no chances that he can hold on with the best. However, seen his form he could well leave China with 4 wins in his bag.
The end of season is close and a few riders have already announced their future. The most relevant signing so far is Hubert Dupont, who is moving to Euskaltel - Euskadi. The French is moving out of Belkin, given that he was relegated to a secondary role in the team at times but he will also have the competition of David Lopez in Euskaltel. The Spaniard team also announced that Danilo di Luca will also join the team from Cannondale.
The Time Trial World Champion, Cameron Meyer, is also on the move. His new team will be Trek Factory Racing. Trek has a few important riders finishing their contracts, such as Simon Gerrans and Andre Greipel, and has decided to replace one of them with the Australian time trialist. It will be interesting to see how Tejay van Garderen, his traditional rival against the clock, takes this move.
Jose Joaquin Rojas had an offer from his current team, HTC - Highroad, to renew his contract. However, the Spaniard decided to go back home to Movistar Team. The Spaniard team was missing a top sprinter and Rojas should improve their chances in hilly stages that are decided in a small bunch.
Another sprinter, Andre Greipel, is leaving Trek to make space for Cameron Meyer. The German will leave towards Lotto - Soudal, the same structure where he started his career in 2009. Michael Matthews is already in the team but the two of them are quite different sprinters so they should not contend for the same type of stage.
The third stage is the only one which finish is uncertain. The route is plagued with small climbs but also the longer Si Hai halfway through the stage. However, the last 40 kilometers are easier and the last climb should not be hard enough. A few of the sprinters might suffer but in principle the stage should come down to a mass sprint unless a very strong rider attacks in the closing kilometers.
Four riders formed the break of the day: John Atapuma (Sky), Michael Morkov (Tinkoff), Alexandre Serebryakov (Katusha) and Heinrich Haussler (Orica). They reached the climb to the Si Hai, the hardest in the day and categorized as 1st category, with a gap of 3' 30'' over the main bunch. Euskaltel is very keen on controlling the race but they might catch the break too early again. It is probable that not all of the sprinters make it in the front group today if the pace is high. Michael Morkov was the first at the top of the climb and is provisionally first in the KoM competition.
Euskaltel kept chasing down the break and they had reduced the gap to 2' 30'' at the second intermediate sprint, in Xiao Chuan, 49 kilometers to the finish line. At the sprint for the remaining points, Giacomo Nizzolo managed to beat Alexander Kristoff, while Marcel Kittel was badly positioned and lost valuable points in the fight for the green jersey. The sprint was right before the climb to the Cang Mi Gu Dao, the climb that was also done yesterday.
John Atapuma and Michael Morkov were trying to make the break survive but they only had a mere 15 seconds with 17 kilometers remaining so their fight was effectively over. The members of the break seem to have accumulated much fatigue during the season. In the bunch, it was Yoann Offredo and Philippe Gilbert leading the way. Astana and Trek had replaced Euskaltel at the front of the peloton. A few riders in the Spaniard team seemed to be burnt after the chase during the stage.
The last climb of the day, Huang Tu Liang, was quite gentle but its top was only 11 kilometers from the finish line in Qianjiadian. Euskaltel led the way with David Lopez at the front, but he was followed by Anthony Roux and Tejay van Garderen. A few riders were dropped in the climb but most of the sprinters were close to the front of the pack. The bad news were for Tom Boonen, who crashed shortly after the top in the first kilometer of the descent and will not be able to sprint.
Euskaltel did not manage to create a sprint train today, so Alexander Kristoff will lose the advantage he had in the other stages. Astana was leading the way with Luca Paolini leading Marcel Kittel out. Theo Bos, the Quickstep sprinter, was right behind the German. Meanwhile, Daniele Bennati was leading Giacomo Nizzolo for Trek. The two trains were fairly matched with 3 kilometers remaining. Alexander Kristoff was right behind Nizzolo. Other sprinters that were well positioned were Tyler Farrar, Elia Viviani and Jurgen Roelandts.
Marcel Kittel started his sprint from very far out, more than 1 kilometer before the finish line. Luca Paolini seemed to run out of gas and the German had to push. However, he is dragging Theo Bos behind, who could be dangerous for him. Meanwhile, on the right hand side of the road, Giacomo Nizzolo and Alexander Kristoff were still holding the horses. The other rider that started to push was Matthew Goss but he was a bit behind to be a threat.
Marcel Kittel and Theo Bos were still leading the way with 500 meters to go. They were lucky to be ahead before the last corner because some of the sprinters, like Giacomo Nizzolo and Alexander Kristoff, got blocked on the inside and lost speed. Matthew Goss and Chris Sutton were the riders closer to the two leaders but unless someone from those behind produces a special sprint it looks like the stage is going to go to either Kittel or Bos.
Marcel Kittel wins in Qianjiadian! The German held off Theo Bos and grabbed his first win this week and the 6th in the season. It seems clear that it is better for the rivals of Alexander Kristoff that the stage is not very straight-forward as they seem to have better chances of success, as Kittel did sprinting from very far out today. The Norwegian, on the other hand, had to settle for a 9th place in the stage.
Theo Bos took the second place in the stage, while Stefan van Dijk was third putting Giant a step closer to being a World Tour team next season. The top 5 was completed by Chris Sutton and Simone Ponzi. This was the last stage before the decisive fourth stage, which finishes at the top of the Miaofeng Mountain. It will be the stage that will most likely crown the winner of the Tour of Beijing.
The news about riders changing teams are arriving every day during the Tour of Beijing. The big news today was that Rui Costa has agreed a contract with Ag2r - La Mondiale. The Portuguese leaves Tinkoff behind, where he got very good results in his 3 seasons in the team. Ag2r brings back a rider that was with the team in 2012 but has improved greatly since he left, although only has 1 win so far in his career.
Team Cannondale - Garmin will be the new name of the Cannondale team. They will be based in the USA and their first signing has been Fabian Cancellara. Trek seems to be renewing their team quite considerably. Cannondale had been mostly focused on climbers so far so they will probably have to sign someone to accompany Cancellara in the cobbles.
Another interesting signing has been made by Team Katusha. The Russians have offered a very good contract to Ben Hermans. The Belgian was 2nd in the Tour Down Under this season but has done nothing special since then. Nevertheless, he was the only rider in Discovery Channel to meet his objectives other than Jean-Christophe Peraud.
The last highlight of the day was the first new rider for Team Giant - Alpecin with their sights set in the World Tour next season. Joost van Leijen will be the marquee rider for the German team alongside Sylvain Chavanel. The Dutch won the Tour Down Under in the month of January and could be a great addition to the team.
The penultimate stage in the season will be the one that decides the fate of the Tour of Beijing. At a bit less than 150 kilometers the stage is fairly short but the climbs to the Xian Ren Don and Miaofeng Mountain should be enough for the climbers to make a difference. It is difficult to predict who will be the best in the last climb this late in the season but with the like of Laurens Ten Dam, Peter Stetina and David Lopez in the race it will most likely be a big name.
The break today was considerably bigger. 8 riders made the front group during the climb to the Xian Ren Dong, including Tom Boonen (Sky), Philippe Gilbert (Trek), Gregory Rast (Orica), Miguel Rubiano (Ag2r) and Anthony Roux (Astana). There was a lot of headwind in the first part of the climb and if it persists it could well condition the outcome of the stage. The group had a gap of 3' 15'' with 88 kilometers remaining. Euskaltel is again controlling the gap with the break as they did every other day.
The second climb of the day, the Gao Ya Kou, is shorter but steeper. Roman Kreuziger and Janez Brajkovic took advantage of the work that Euskaltel is doing to keep the break within reach and attacked at the bottom of the climb. They got to the top, 75 kilometers to the finish line, only 1 minute behind the break. They are the kind of riders that should not get to the base of Miaofeng Mountain with much of a gap. Meanwhile, the peloton was starting to lose riders and crossed the KoM sprint 3' 15'' behind the break.
Anthony Roux attacked in the small hill before the Miaofeng Mountain to grab a few more KoM points and decided to continue on his own. With 18 kilometers remaining, close to the start to the actual climb, he had a gap of 20 seconds over the rest of the break. The peloton was chasing 1' 45'' behind. Roman Kreuziger and Janez Brajkovic had not been able to make it to the break in the flat between the climbs. The pace was frantic in the peloton as Sacha Modolo started to do the pace setting in the peloton taking advantage of the tail and crosswinds. The main group had less than 60 riders at the bottom of the climb because of that.
There were quite a few early attempts from important riders but they were not successful. That meant that with 12 kilometers to go the break was virtually caught. Among the attackers were Jerome Coppel, Mikel Nieve and Michele Scarponi, some of the second tier riders. Controlling the peloton were David Lopez and Jurgen van den Broeck. It was surprising that Euskaltel put David Lopez at the front, given that he should be the rider that fight for the overall win.
There were several attacks but the only rider to make it stick was Emanuele Sella. The Italian attacked with around 10 kilometers to go and 2 kilometers later he had a gap of around 35 seconds on the main group. Peter Stetina is the leader for BMC today but Sella is also good enough to make the chasers work hard. David Lopez, Jurgen van den Broeck and Kanstantsin Siutsou are leading the bunch, which suggests that Cannondale's Laurens Ten Dam might be about to attack. Alexander Kristoff is still holding on to the main group.
The headwind in this last climb was making the attacking very difficult for all the riders that tried to break away. Emanuele Sella was still holding on a gap of 20 seconds over the main bunch, led by Robert Kiserlovski. The Lotto rider had tried to attack but a lot of other riders tried to follow and it was useless for him to go on. Following him in the group of the leader were Andrew Talansky, David Lopez and Mathias Frank. It is amazing how Alexander Kristoff was hanging on to the group but he still had 5 kilometers to the finish line.
Andy Schleck tried to make the same attack he did last year with 2 kilometers to go but it did not quite work out as in 2014 as he was swiftly followed by Bauke Mollema, Robert Kiserlovski and Stefano Garzelli. The main favorites, like Laurens Ten Dam and Peter Stetina have been surprisingly quiet in the climb, probably trusting their final kilometer punch to grab the leader's jersey in the bonus seconds.
Chris Froome was the first rider to start the final sprint in the last kilometer of the climb to Miaofeng Mountain but it was Tiago Machado leading the way with 800 meters to go ahead of the British rider. They were followed by Lampre's Stefano Garzelli, Tejay van Garderen and Mikel Nieve. Many riders have been able to save energy in this climb because almost 50 remain in the main bunch. However, Alexander Kristoff finally lost contact with the group and will give the leader's jersey away.
Tiago Machado wins in Miaofeng Mountain! The Portuguese win is a massive surprise given the quality of the rest of the riders present in the Tour of Beijing. Machado will grab the leader's jersey on the bonus seconds and with one stage remaining he is the virtual winner of the race. He beat Laurens Ten Dam and Peter Stetina for the win, who had to settle for the second and third places.
After Stetina, Chris Froome and David Lopez completed the top 5 of the stage. The climb to Miaofeng Mountain was rather disappointing, probably caused by the strong headwind that the riders had to suffer. This also meant that almost 50 riders were in the same time and the race will be decided in the bonus seconds. Vincenzo Nibali will profit from that as the second he managed to grab puts him in the 4th place in the GC.
HTC - Highroad announced a couple of new faces in their team for the next season yesterday after the stage finishing in Miaofeng Mountain. Johan Vansummeren and David Millar will join the American team, which is undergoing a deep renovation with the departure of Jose Joaquin Rojas, their best sprinter. Vansummeren has not done such a great season this year but will nevertheless be a rider to consider in the cobbled classics.
Euskaltel - Euskadi also pesented two new signings for the next season: Greg van Avermaet and Rinaldo Nocentini. The quality of the riders that are joining the Spanish outfit has increased considerably this year, probably a reflection on the extra money they got in sponsorship after their great season. It also means that the once Spanish focussed team is now a very international team, as they hired 2 Italians, 1 French and 1 Belgian this season.
Another rather surprising signing is the move of Tom-Jelte Slagter to the Team Cannondale - Garmin outfit. Slagter's results this year include a stage win in the Tour de Romandie, but it seems that the American team is giving the 23 year old a more important role in the team as he is seen as a rider with a good potential for the future.
Finally, Tony Martin, who apparently had almost agreed a contract with Giant - Alpecin, will be moving to the Lotto - Soudal squad. The Belgian team was very weak in the time trials and the addition of the German specialist to the squad should improve their performance in the team time trials. However, it is interesting that Martin was not interested in a more leading role in Giant.
The last stage of the season will be quite easy, probably more like a walk in the park for many riders. The stage will be all inside the streets of Beijing, first with a section between Tiananmen Square and the Bird's Nest followed by 12 laps to an 8 kilometers long circuit around the Olympic venues. The outcome of the stage is most likely predetermined to be a mass sprint.
The first intermediate sprint of the day waws already placed inside the final circuit, 79 kilometers before the finish. The teams of the sprinters were controlling the race and no break had formed so far, allowing the sprinters to battle for the points on offer. Giacomo Nizzolo crashed out of the race yesterday so the point's jersey is a matter of Alexander Kristoff against Marcel Kittel. The Norwegian was fastest in the sprint, ahead of Marcel Kittel and Simone Ponzi.
Ben Hermans tried to attack in his last day racing for Discovery Channel but the group he was in was reeled back in by the peloton before the second intermediate sprint. The same riders sprinted for more points but this time it was Marcel Kittel who beat Alexander Kristoff and Simone Ponzi. With this result the green jersey is not decided yet and Kittel might still steal it from Kristoff in the finish line.
There was another attempt for a break before the finish but it was not meant to be and the stage was headed for a mass sprint. However, the race would have a dramatic outcome as Tiago Machado was involved in a crash in the last lap, with 6 kilometers remaining. The Portuguese had trouble getting on his bike again and that meant that considering the gaps in the GC he is going to lose the race. Worse than that, Laurens Ten Dam was also involved in the crash and Peter Stetina could be set to take the overall win.
The sprint trains were already set up with 3 kilometers to go. Astana was leading the way with Luca Paolini working for Marcel Kittel. Stefan van Dijk was right behind the German. Almost at par with them was Euskaltel, looking as strong as ever. Fran Ventoso would again be the lead out man for Alexander Kristoff. Theo Bos again managed to take one of the best wheels, positioned right behind Kristoff. The third train today was Katusha's, were Jure Kocjan would be the last man for Simone Ponzi. Chris Sutton, Tyler Farrar, Elia Viviani and Mark Cavendish were close behind. It seemed like every fast man was going to join the final sprint today.
Fran Ventoso has been almost perfect in this Tour of Beijing and is again leading the way in the sprint for Alexander Kristoff. With 1 kilometer to go they had built a small advantage on the rest of the sprinters. Theo Bos again selected the wheel he had to follow carefully and looked like the main threat to Kristoff. Marcel Kittel and Stefan van Dijk were right behind the Dutch.
Alexander Kristoff seemed to arrive a bit short in speed to the last kilometer. With 500 meters remaining Fran Ventoso was still ahead of the Norwegian while Theo Bos had gone around him and sat in the second position at that point. Tyler Farrar was progressing fast on the left hand side of the road with Stefan van Dijk also in the mix. Other strong riders like Marcel Kittel and Simone Ponzi were a bit behind.
Tyler Farrar wins in Beijing! The American fights from behind the favorites to win the last stage in the season. Farrar closes the season with 3 wins on his bag. The Tinkoff rider has been consistently getting wins for many years and is one of the sprinters with the best record. Elia Viviani and Chris Sutton were second and third as many riders went backwards in the final meters of the stage. Stefan van Dijk and Alexander Kristoff completed the top 5.
The surprise of the day was the crash of the leader, Tiago Machado, and the second rider in the GC, Laurens Ten Dam. They lost time at the finish line, which means that Peter Stetina was the overall winner of the race. Vincenzo Nibali and Robert Kiserlovski joined the American in the podium. Overall, the Tour of Beijing was very disappointing, with 42 seconds finishing within 1 second of the winner. Stetina barely did anything to take the win but increases his history.
