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After a tough Tour of Qinghai Lake the riders are ready for a rest, but cyclingnewsasia never rests! Read on for a recap of the key riders who made this years race what it was; from the attackers to the GC threats, have a read . . .
Hossein Askari (Tabriz-Petrochemical Cycling Team)
This quiet and unassuming Iranian won the Qinghai Lake Tour for the first time after finishing on the podium in 2009 and 2008. He has been racing all the editions since it started in 2002. His definitive moment during the 2010 Tour came in stage six when he escaped with teammate Mehdi Sohrabi and Serbian Golden boy Nikola Kozomara (Partizan Srbija) to fly to an emphatic stage win ahead of a raging peloton. Askari's Yellow jersey was never threatened and spent the last three stages successfully defending his position with the solid cohesive teamwork of his Tabriz-Petrochemical Cycling Team. He will be back in China later this year for the Tour de China stage race – so look for him to do well again. www.tptcycling.com
Radoslav Rogina (Loborika Cycling Team)
The Croatian National Champion put in an excellent performance throughout the Tour – he had Yellow from day 1 through till day six. He looked very strong and with the solid backing of his team, it seemed as if he would keep Yellow. However, the Iranian TPT team had other ideas and took over Yellow in Stage six with their stunning performance that had Loborika reeling in disbelief. The Loborika coach said “In my 30 years of coaching, I have never seen anything like this – it is unbelievable”. Rogina continued to challenge for the Yellow jersey but in the end he finished a solid 2nd overall on general classification. www.bk-loborika.hr/
Kiel Reijnen (Jelly Belly presented by Kenda)
This young 25 year old American has been riding very well this season with a number of wins under his belt – including winning the recent Tour of Thailand where his team tore the race apart and took the top podium spots overall. The Qinghai Lake Tour UCI 2.HD level was the first tour he raced at this level and he came away with an excellent 3rd overall – and mostly without the help of his team. He did some astute riding on the final day to claim the first two intermediate sprints and move up from 4th position to pass the Slovenian Mitja Mahoric who had previously leapt frogged Kiel by doing the same tactics in claiming bonus seconds. Kiel's focus is now going to be the USA Pro Nationals in a few weeks and his goal is a podium spot. After his sterling results this year, he hopes to get a professional contract to race in Europe next year. Jelly Bely Presented by Kenda is not returning for Tour de China but are likely to be back for Tour de Soul in South Korea and Tour of Hainan. jellybellycycling.com/
Gregor Gazvoda (Arbo-KTM Gebruder Weiss)
Slovenian Gazvoda from the Austrian Team is one of the most unlucky riders in the peloton as he slipped from 2nd on general classification to 12th overall by the end. He won stage three out sprinting his breakaway companions and taking the Green Jersey in the process – which he wore for a couple of days. He kept his 2nd overall position till stage five when he suffered a puncture and then made chase to almost bridge back to the field when a crash in the rear end of the peloton caused the road to be blocked. This consigned Gazvoda to the second group and the loss of valuable seconds dropped him to 10th position. He was one rider that was climbing extremely well and would have kept his 2nd position – however that is the nature of Tour racing. Everything has to go right for you otherwise you can find yourself out of contention after one bad slip or mishap. www.ktm-cycling.at
David McCann (Giant Asia)
This 37 year old Irish rider rode a solid tour to finish 5th overall. He rode a no-frills race where he mostly followed wheels on the climbs and positioned himself well in the pack finishes to get some top 10 placings. He featured in most of the important breakaways and his descending skills were one of the best, especially during stage three when he helped a group of 12 riders, containing all the key riders, catch the five-man breakaway consisting of four Iranians from the TPT team. He finished third that day. He continues to race well in Asia – currently 2nd on the UCI Asian rankings, due to his wins at the Tour de Taiwan and the Tour de Filipinas, and his focus for this year is the world time trial championships in Australia later this year. His biggest news in 2009 was when he broke Chris Boardman’s long-standing British 25 mile time trial record at Port Talbot. He will also be back for the Tour de China. www.giant-art.com
Ghader Mizbani Iranagh (Tabriz Petrochemical)
This 35 year old Iranian rider climbed superbly during the Qinghai Tour to take the Polka-dot Climbers jersey – he was clearly the best climber of all the riders and has been dubbed as the Schleck-like climber by Mike Carter (who has done all the Grand Tours). If given the opportunity, he is likely to climb with the best at the Tour de France. It is because of his nationality that it is difficult to get a Pro-Tour contract and the visas he would need to travel to many countries. Ghader Mizbani Iranagh during stage two climbed solo to be over three minutes clear of the next chase group and also performed the same feat during stage three where he was almost four minutes clear over the 2nd KOM climb, but as most of the stages finished with long downhills, he was always caught by hard chasing groups. Stage three was his best result, winning from his two breakaway companions. He finished 7th overall and will be a strong rider to watch in the mountains during Tour de China later this year. In the meantime, his team is heading to France to do some big races.
Boris Shpilevsky (Russian National Team)
The 28 year old Ex Pro-Tour rider (last rode for the Fuji-Servetto Team) is an excellent field sprinter – he appeared on the podium six times during the Qinghai Lake Tour and bagged two wins in a row during Stages Seven and Eight. He proved himself to be the best climber amongst the sprinters and was able to climb in the front group with the help of his Russian National Team to take an un-expected win during stage seven when most of the sprinters were dropped on the climb. Shpilevsky was probably the most aggressive sprinter and thrived when the finish was more chaotic. He was dominant at the Tour of Hainan last year, winning four stages and should have gotten the overall win – but a wheel change in the final stage cost him the top spot. He won the Sprint Ace Green Jersey classification by the end of the 2010 Qinghai Lake Tour Keep an eye out for more action from this exciting rider.
Mehdi Sohrabi (Tabriz Petrochemical)
This 29 year old Iranian cyclist is built like a body-builder and is the Asia road race and time trial Champion as well as the UCI Asian Series leader. His highlight of this Tour was stage six when he escaped with team-mate Askari and Serbian Nikola Kozomara (Partizan Srbija) to average a shocking 49km/h for over 150kms – he pounded on his 54-11 all day and the two Iranians even clocked 57km/h up one of the hills! It was a day that went down in history as one of the greatest breakaways that stayed away from a raging peloton that was averaging over 60km/h for two hours. He won the sprint for the win ahead of the Serbian 18 year old, but more importantly he helped put Askari into Yellow. This hard fast sprinter also won the final day in the streets of Xining with a powerful sprint to win ahead of more favored opponents. He will be back for the Tour de China and hunting for more stage wins.
Yuriy Metlushenko (Amore & Vita CONAD)
Metlushenko won two stages at the Qinghai Lake Tour including the opening criterium. He also won the Qinghai Lake Stage by default of the Ivan Stevic disqualification. This 33 year old Ukrainian is one of the best sprinters in the world who bases himself in Italy and according to his Manager Roberto Gaggioli he considers Italy his home now. Roberto backs his sprinter to be the best in the race especially with the strong leadout machine from the Italian Amore & Vita CONAD team. He is going to be going for the World Championships in Australia. Gaggioli says the course suits him and he has a great chance of getting a result. The Amore & Vita CONAD team together with the Russian National Team were the only teams able to organize complete and effective lead-out trains for stages that finished in bunch sprints. Yuriy Metlushenko was the fastest when given a clear run at the line by his team. Check out www.amoreevita-mcdonalds.it for more info.
Wu Shengjun (Qinghai Tianyoude Cycling Team)
This young 23 year old Chinese rider has a bright future ahead of him in cycling. He was one of the standout Chinese riders, riding agressively at every opportunity – featuring in a long breakaway during stage seven and was eventually caught on the final KOM climb. He made the front group on most occasions and finished 25th overall (2nd best Chinese). Jiao Pengda of the Chinese National Team was the most consistent of the Chinese finishing 20th and only 10 minutes behind winner Aksari.
Jiang Kun (Chinese National Team)
Early in the Tour, 21 year old Jiang Kun had a stand-out performance during stage one where he claimed third place and wore the Asian Leaders jersey for a brief period. He is the current Chinese National Champion.
The Chinese riders in general in the 2010 Edition of the Qinghai Lake Tour have improved dramatically on previous years performances and are riding consistently in the front groups. Despite their limited opportunities for international racing within China they performed exceptionally well and expect them to be another notch higher when the 2011 Edition comes around. There have been reports that Chinese riders performed badly – such as this one:
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90779/90867/7079062.html
Cyclingnewsasia believes that riders Asia wide deserve to be proud of their performances and many of the international teams have echoed this view-point. The level of cycling has improved tremendously across the continent in a very short period compared to some of the best in the world. We may see more local riders on the podium in the years to come as they develop as a cycling nation. One biggest glaring gap in Chinese cycling is the level of amateur racing, there needs to be competitions that involve the top pro cyclists with the top amateurs. Presently it appears that Chinese pro riders are not allowed to race in most of the domestic local races. Cyclingnewsasia can see a huge opportunity for professional riders to mix with the amateurs – it would improve the level of racing considerably and be a breeding ground for emerging talent.
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