CYCLING:IRISH PROFESSIONAL Nicolas Roche continues to occupy a high overall position in the Tour of Beijing, and starts today's toughest stage in 13th place overall. Roche placed 14th in Wednesday's opening time trial and moved up a place on yesterday's stage when he finished in the main bunch.
The 137 kilometre stage from Water Cube to Men Tou Gou featured a four-man breakaway group but these riders were all reeled in before the finish, setting things up for a big bunch sprint.
Australian rider Heinrich Haussler (Garmin-Cervélo) timed his finishing sprint perfectly, reaching the line a couple of centimetres ahead of the Russian Denis Galimzyanov (Katusha). Former world track sprint champion Theo Bos (Rabobank) was third.
Roche and fellow Irish pro Philip Deignan (Team RadioShack) were classified as finishing in the same time. The former crossed the line in 23rd place, while the latter rolled in 105th.
Wednesday’s time trial winner Tony Martin (HTC Highroad) continues to lead in the overall classification, holding a 17 second advantage over Scottish rider David Millar (Garmin-Cervélo) and a further seven over Vuelta a España runner-up Chris Froome (Sky Procycling).
Roche is 49 seconds back in that 13th place overall, while Deignan is a further 20 seconds back in 64th. Today’s stage will likely be the most crucial of those remaining in determining the final overall positions, as it features the biggest mountains of the race.
Early on, the riders will scale the category two Dong Fang and the first category Gao Quin ascents; after 50 kilometres of flat roads, the riders will tackle the first category climbs of Xeizishi and Erpuliang. These are just 15 kilometres apart and will have a major effect, although with 12 mainly downhill kilometres to the finish, there could be some sort of regrouping.
If so, it may limit the amount of gains a rider such as Roche can make in the general classification. He has ample motivation, though, as his Ag2r La Mondiale team needs to gain WorldTour points in order to ensure it has a ProTeam licence next season.
If it doesn’t do so, it will have to rely on wildcard invitations to events such as the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia and the Tour of Spain. After the Tour of Beijing ends on Sunday, Roche contests the Giro di Lombardia.
In other news, the An Post Grant Thornton M Donnelly Sean Kelly team will contest its final two races of the season in the next few days. First up is today’s Zwevegem Pro Race, with the Putte-Kappelen following on Tuesday.
Irishman Ronan McLaughlin will take part, along with English duo Andy Fenn and Mark McNally plus the Belgians Niko Eeckhout, Pieter Ghyllebert and Kevin Claeys.
