A brilliant leadout by his Russian National Team that survived the 15km climb gave Boris Shpileveskiy a convincing win over Mehdi Sohrabi (Tabriz-Petrochemical) and Iglinskiy Valentin (Kazakhstan National Team). The win has also virtually secured Shpileveskiy the Green jersey in the Sprint Ace competition, barring any accidents or dramatic turnarounds.  Shpileveskiy was the best of the sprinters that made it over the last KOM climb in the front group. In the lead-up to the finish, five of Shpileveskiy’s team-mates were rotating hard on the front while the Russian sprinter was cruising at the back – waiting for the killer punch!

Asian TT Champion Mehdi Sohrabi (Tabriz Petrochemical), who is built like a body-builder and cranks the 54-11 all day, won in stunning fashion averaging 49km/h for the entire stage. Sohrabi won the sprint ahead of 18 year old Nikola Kozomara (Partizan SRBIJA) with Hossein Askari in third place. This victory has left many teams scratching their heads in bewilderment: how did they do it?!

As predicted, the 120km stage from Xining to Qinghai Lake, ended with a big field sprint. Ivan Stevic was freelancing on his own in the peloton – without the help of his team mates as they have all been sick; the Russian National Team and the Amore & Vita Team all had very strong lead out trains going and looked to be a contest between Yuri and Boris. But it was Stevic’s day – he flew past the big trains about 10km/h faster and took the sensational win for his Serbian Team. It was a well deserved win despite being later disqualified for a dubious victory salute.