There really should only be one possible champ here and that’s Shikai, who has the support of the biggest team presence as well. But we’ve seen upsets from punchy riders before on this course, and Niu would fit that bill.
Startlist
Spoiler
Li
Wen Hao
Gjensidige Pro Cycling Team
Jiang
Zhihui
Sauber Petronas Racing
Niu
Yikui
Team Puma - SAP
Shikai
Chen
Voyagin - Bird
Chen
Mingrun
Voyagin - Bird
Lyu
Xianjing
Voyagin - Bird
Liu
Jiankun
Voyagin - Bird
Zhao
Jingbiao
Voyagin - Bird
Still on the second to last climb, Niu attacks! That’s an early move, a bold one as well against the Voyagin team.
Heading into the final 5km, it looks pretty good for the Puma rider. He leads by 30 seconds to Lyu, who chases alone ahead of a group of 9 that includes Shikai - curious tactics here by Voyagin.
3 kilometers to go and Niu still has a significant lead. Shikai now attacks, following Jiang and Li, but it’s a long way to the head of the race.
Final kilometer for Niu, it’s looking good …
And he pulls it off! A gutsy long range attack brings Niu the national championship title. Voyagin is left with 2nd and 3rd for Lyu and Shikai.
Result
1
Yikui Niu
Team Puma - SAP
1h55'32
2
Xianjing Lyu
Voyagin - Bird
+ 58
3
Chen Shikai
Voyagin - Bird
+ 1'13
4
Zhihui Jiang
Sauber Petronas Racing
+ 1'39
5
Mingrun Chen
Voyagin - Bird
s.t.
6
Wen Hao Li
Gjensidige Pro Cycling Team
+ 2'55
7
Jingbiao Zhao
Voyagin - Bird
+ 3'22
8
Jiankun Liu
Voyagin - Bird
s.t.
---------
Chinese Championships - ITT
Li is the main favorite, Shikai might have a chance to redeem himself after the road race though.
Niu won’t add a second medal, he ends up in 5th place and gets overtake by Shikai halfway through the race. At the first checkpoint, the Voyagin leader is only 8 seconds behind Li.
Zhao wins bronze today, now it’s up to Shikai to avoid consecutive 2nd and 3rd places for Voyagin.
Shikai sets a decent time of 1h04’57 at the line, almost three minutes faster than his teammate in third place. But will it be enough for the title?
Chinese Championships - RR 
