Tour de Qinghai Lake first
stage concludes in showers
2004-07-18 10:29:00 Xinhuanet
XINING,
Northwest China, July l7, 2004 (Xinhuanet) -- American Viktar Rapinski from
Navigator Cycling Team sprinted to clinch the 104km first stage of the Tour de
Qinghai Lake cycling race on
Saturday, a circuit race around Xining, the capital
city of Qinghai Province.
He put on both the yellow jersey for the overall race leader and the green
jersey for the leading sprinter.
The first stage began in the sunshine but was fazed by an unexpected shower
after two laps. It became intermittently rainy until the end of the race, which
caused several riders to slip on the last corner before the finish line.
A few riders had tried to break away from the main bunch, however the
advantage was never decisive. Viktar Rapinski, who hid in the main group during
the whole stage, just sped up for the last 200 meters and crossed the finish
line first, clocking two hours, 11 minutes and five seconds.
Usau Alisksandr of Phonak Cycling Team from Switzerland and Kraft Dennis of
Action Team from the Netherlands finished second and third respectively.
"It's my first time to compete at such high altitude. We did good today, for
me and for my team. My job was just to sprint for 200 meters," said Rapinski,
"The rain made it a bit dangerous, anyway the result is good."
However, the young sprinter was cautious about his future performance.
"I don't know if I can keep the jersey, because anything could happen in a
race, especially in the climbing stages," he said.
Iglinskiy Maxim from Kazakhstan won the blue jersey for the leading Asian
rider, but he did not appear at the ceremony for unknown reasons, which will
incur a warning or even a penalty.
Top Chinese rider Wang Guozhang, four-time yellow jersey owner here last
year, finished ninth, while Hong Kong star rider Wong Kam Po placed 32nd.
However, the two climbing specialists still bear hope to snatch the yellow
jersey.
The nine-day-long third edition of the Tour de Qinghai Lake race, featuring a
grand opening ceremony here on Saturday, has been promoted from 2.5-category to
2.3 by the International Cycling Union (UCI).
Eleven professional teams, seven national ones and two regionalones from
countries as France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and the United States, will vie
for the championship along the 1,292km course, with the highest altitude of
3,792 meters and the lowest of 2,200 meters which makes it the "highest" cycling
race in the world.
(Frankspeak)
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