Indeed! Geraint Thomas is crazy at the time being, with great shape against a bunch of riders who began decreasing in shape weeks ago, there's not much to stop this man from winning. And with Sal's great time trial at stage 1, things indeed looks good in the general classification

Someone obviously needed a win desperately, since a breakaway-madness occured during the first 50 kilometres without a single pause. A five man breakaway though managed to get away eventually with some dangerous riders, since both X. Florencio and L. Westra were less than 50 seconds after Thomas in the general classification.


At the highest point at todays course, the favorites including Valverde, Barredo, Casar and more, tried to get away but without luck. Only Barredo managed to solo up to the morningbreakaway, but everything were united before the final 10 km. In a late attack S. Pauwels tried to trick the remaining sprinters in the pack, but also without success.

A controversial situation occured on the final line, since Matthews and Thomas were sure that they were fighting for the win, only to find out that the finish line had been moved 100 metres further for the final lap, making young frenchman B. Kadri the winner of the stage!

God damn it. What a tough day! All day long the pace were extremely high with no exceptions. I was told that Thomas only wanted Nordhuag to lead him out, so there wasn't any chances of a train breaking down on the hills. Therefore i had the possibility of riding my own sprint, just trying to go from wheel to wheel. It succeeded very well, and confirmed my shape which i hope i can use for tomorrows stage where i really want to try something if i'm allowed to do so. And by the way, Thomas was mad as hell with the moved finish line, and immediately complained to the organizers. We'll see what that ends with...

Three riders playing no role in the general classification got away in the morning without any problems. All day long the gap was under control, with the riders being surprised how flat the route actually was. This suited the sprinters well, so with 9 kilometres to go, a mass sprint was inevitable with the breakaway having been reeled in.


Sky and Rabobank were the only ones able to set up a train for respectively Thomas and Matthews. Unfortunately for Matthews, Rabobank's train broke down early, putting Sky in a perfect position. In the sprint it looked like a clear victory for Roelandts, but on the final metres, Bole came on the outside to take the victory.

In the morning i hoped to have a go on the attack today, but the route was much flatter than expected, so my possibilities wouldn't have been high nevertheless. I was the third last guy in our sprint train today, just in front of Nordhaug. I think i did a great job and that i might as well could have been the final leadout for Thomas, since Nordhaug had problems in upping the pace after i turned out. Last stage will come tomorrow, which will be my final raceday in the saddle this year. I'm looking forward to a break!

@sutty: Yeah, let's hope so! A little world tour victory wouldn't hurt

@Miguel: Puccio has had a great season in term of sprint finishing and has developed his sprinting ability much. This time it looks like it was no exeption

@Ian: Yep! I'll finish the season to put it all to an end... or, to make room for a new beginning

Todays morningbreakaway was quite strong, including stars like M. Moser, M. Marcato and T. Dekker, with the dutch being the best placed 2 minutes behind Thomas. But nevertheless all the sprinterteams had set their mind up for a mass sprint at todays flat course, leaving nothing for the coincidence. Therefore the 5-man break was neutralized with 8 km to the finish line.


Both Sky, Rabobank and Lotto were fighting to set up a train for their sprinters, but as seen through the whole race, Sky was just a cut above again. With 3 km to go, Sky had the front all for themselves with both Puccio, Thomas and Swift ready to do the sprint.

In the final sprint Thomas led Swift under La Flamme Rouge and just dropped down at once to celebrate his overall victory in the Tour of Beijing. Ben Swift didn't disappoint either, by taking a dominating victory in front of K. Goddaert and M. Fischer.

What a way to end the season with! Tour of Beijing has been a fantastic race for the team. We've all kept our shape high until the very end of the season, and that seems to really have paid off. I was awarded with my favorite role as the second last leadout man today, and my DS praised my performance. I'm glad he noticed. It will be strange to stop racing, but nevertheless i really need a serious break to recover from a tough season.