XINING, China, July 22 (Xinhua) -- Polivoda Oleksandr from Ukraine's Kolss Cycling Team (KLS) won the 8th stage of the Tour of Qinghai Lake in 4 hours 59 minutes and 36 seconds on Sunday.
Luca Chirico from Turkey's Torku Sekerspor (TRK) and Jacopo Mosca from Italy's Wilier Triestina-Southeast (WIL) came second and third respectively.
Stage 8 from Menyuan to Ping'an covers a total distance of 224km, which is the longest stage so far, with 1 intermediate sprint and 1 H climb. The winding mountain road of stage 8 is a demanding task for riders.
Although Oleksandr had problem on his legs during the starting period of stage 8, he held on and became the first breasting the finish line.
"At the last 10 or maybe 15 km, I feel good on my legs. And I know that if I go with our group, I have good chance for victory," said Polivoda with some regret. "I surpassed the later riders only several centimeters, it' s not a victory for me, but for the whole group," he said.
After a difficult competition, Yonnatta Monsalve kept wearing yellow jersey as the top of General Individual classification, and blue jersey was taken over from Yevgeniy Gidichi by his teammate Astafyev Stepan.
Green jersey and polka dot jersey are still kept by Orken Ahmet from Turley' s TRK and Ortega Ramire from Taipei' s RTS respectively.
Stage 9 Ping'an to Linxia will be held on July 24. The start of stage 9 is in Qinghai province and the finish is in Gansu province.
