Volodymyr Zagorodnyy, an unknown Ukrainian cyclist won the fifth stage of Tour de Qinghai Lake on Tuesday in an overwhelming final sprint as Iranianrider Hossein Askari seized the yellow jersey.
Zagorodnyy, ranked the 70th before the stage, stayed steadily in the chasing group for a long time and launched a galloping attack with 18 kilometers to go. The 27-year-old Ukrainian international edged Jure Kocjan and Matej Stare from Slovenian PER by 9 seconds, a prominent advantage that provided him enough time to receive acclamation from the spectators.
"Today's race was really tough. We climbed a very high mountain where it was difficult to breathe, but I won the stage anyway," said Zagorodnyy after the finish.
The riders climbed the Laji Mountain which is more than 3,800 meters in altitude. "We believed the riders that are good at mountain stages could win the stage, but this Ukraine rider became a real black horse," said international judge Qiu Jijin.
Zagorodnyy was not sure how long he could run. "However, I don't know what I can achieve in next stages though I won today," said he, "We only have to go step by step."
His carefulness is not unreasonable. Though he stunned all others, he still failed to ascend to top ten in the general individual standing.
Askari, a Tour de Qinghai Lake regular, came back after half stages finished and grabbed the yellow jersey from Slovenian professional Kristjan Fajt.
"Today my team is very good. My team is good at mountain, very strong in the climbing stage," he contributed his success to the teamwork.
Aksari and his teammates Ahad Sarai Kazemi and Ghader Iranagh Mizbani took a total of 21 points by passing the King of Mountain point. And he shortened the distance with the red-polka point owner Lucas Persson to only one point.
"This year's race is difficult. Maybe tomorrow we'll have the green jersey changed. But we'll try to defend it," said Askari.
Persson got injured in his right knee so not to take any points today. "It was not feeling so good in the hills after the crash, you know, due to pains in the arms and legs," said he.
But he did not fear his Iranian rivals who took the following four places in the ranking. "I don't think too much about that," said he, "I think we are coming here and we'll try tomorrow to take points either."
Denmark Olympic hopeful Alex Rasmussen passed the first and the second sprint points and kept his leading the points standing. But the Denmark national team was pushed out of the top place it took for four days and only ranked the ninth.
"There's no sprint point tomorrow. So we are just to go in the first peloton and just take it easy for one more day," said Rasmussen.
"I'll defend the green jersey as much as I can. There are two more stages that I have chance to win but the rest are out of my hands," said the three-day yellow jersey owner.
The race will begin the sixth stage Wednesday. The riders will start from Guide Township towards the provincial capital Xining and have to climb the Laji Mountain again, covering a distance of 115 kilometers.
(Xinhua News Agency July 16, 2008)