XINING, July 15 (Xinhua) -- Australian Brenton Jones has cast away doubts of a poor Tour of Qinghai Lake rider with a superb victory at the second stage, clocking 2:42:46 on Monday for French team Delko Marseille at the Xining circuit race with a gritty final sprint.
The 119km circuit around Xining, capital city of Qinghai province, was always going to end in an inevitable dash to the finish line, favored by sprinters. The 13.2km street circuit was repeated nine times and the road conditions were exceptionally favorable compared to Sunday's team time trial.
Chinese riders Wang Jiancai and Li Zisen of Tianyoude Hotel Cycling team were the breakaway racers, separating from the group early in the second stage. The locals loved their determination, but the main peloton however was consistently controlled by Delko Marseille and Sunday's time trial winners, Medellin.
The last sprint to the finish line was a kilometer of intense competition between Turkish star Onur Balkan (Salcano Sakarya BB) and seasoned sprinter Nicolas Marini (Tianyoude Hotel Cycling), who finished second and third respectively.
"It was very fast, but I think the experience from last year paid off," Jones commented, in relation to his victory at the second stage last year in Qinghai.
"I didn't hit the front until one hundred meters to go and I knew that was the way to win."
It couldn't have come at a better time for Jones, as Sunday's time trials were incredibly disappointing.
"Yesterday I felt very bad," admitted Jones. "I was really bad. I had bad legs and after 20 kilometres I was done. But I know that you have to keep fighting and today I kept fighting."
The Colombian Alfonso Roldan of Medellin is the new leader after two stages with time bonus at intermediate sprint, carrying Sunday's momentum to grant him the race leader's yellow jersey in a total of 3:32:22.
Jones earned the green point leader jersey, which he almost won last year, but was bested on the last day. He was especially grateful to his team who together created the opportunity for him to seize first place.
Roldan's compatriot teammate Robigzon Oyola was just one second adrift in second place overall. Another Medellin rider Oscar Sevilla Rivera from Spain was in third and four to six places in the overall rankings were also taken by Colombian riders of Medellin after two stages.
The best result for non-Medellin riders came from Georgios Bouglas of Greece, who was 1:29 trailing the leader for Ningxia Sports Lottery team, in seventh place overall, followed by his teammates Carlos Quintero Norena from Colombia and Michel Kreder from the Netherlands.
China's Bai Lijun from Ningxia Sports Lottery team is the best Asian rider in 3:33:51. Akmal Hakim Zakaria and Muhammad Zawawi Azman, both from Malaysia, representing Team Sapura Cycling, were 46 seconds behind Bai in second and third places respectively in the Asian riders rankings.
Medellin is the run-away leader in the team rankings with a time of 8:57:55. China's Ningxia Sports Lottery is trailing 1:28 in second place, followed by Malaysia's team Sapura Cycling, which is 2:14 behind Medellin.
