Davis solidifies lead at Qinghai Tour
- By VeloNews.com
- Published Jul. 16, 2007
Despite a barrage of attacks designed to ruffle their feathers, Discovery Channel has again emerged on top at the Tour of Qinghai Lake, as race leader Allan Davis claimed his second stage triumph with a last-minute lunge to the line in Xihaizhen. After 152 kilometers in the saddle, the plucky Australian learned his lesson from yesterday, this time going head-to-head with Stage 2 winner André Schulze and matching each other meter by meter – with only a perfect throw of the bike deciding the outcome.
“It was close, but I knew I had it,” said Davis. “I’ve got really good legs – a lot better than what I thought – and it’s impressed myself. And to be a part of this team… we controlled it really well today.
“Most of the time, we had one [rider] in the breaks; if you can do that, it’s perfect, it takes the pressure off the whole team. The only thing was the guys [high] on GC getting involved: Relax, they had to work a lot today to close [the break] with [Gabriele] Massaglia up the road – he’s a good climber – you can never relax in this sort of race, it’s very unpredictable.
“I probably didn’t have as good sensations as yesterday or the day before,” continued Davis, “but after he [Schulze] jumped me yesterday and I didn’t have it to come around him, I sort of jumped him today and held on. I didn’t have the same feelings, but I had enough to hang on.”
He wasn’t making that last bit up, either. Straight after the finish, the Queenslander was looking a little faint (one gets that when you’re 3,000-plus meters above sea level and you’ve just given your maximum effort), and without mincing words, he said to VeloNews with a smile, “I look like s***… I’m struggling!”
In fact, the yellow jersey had intended to give his Chinese team-mate Fuyu Li a shot at victory, but it wasn’t just he who was struggling with the altitude: “Actually, Fuyu’s going quite well and is pretty quick, so I was going to look after him,” explained Davis. “I hit him up and asked how he was feeling with 20, 30k to go and he sort of just shook his head, so that’s when I decided to have a go myself.”
Besides a second stage win being the reward for his struggles, the Disco all-rounder now leads the race overall by 20 seconds over Intel-Action’s Denys Kostyuk and 23 from Skil-Shimano’s Floris Goesinnen – but with 18 men within a minute, one won’t have a clear picture of how serious Discovery’s intentions are till tomorrow’s mountain stage. For now, they’re playing it cool.
Said Davis: “I think there’s a lot of pressure on some of the [other] teams now, with Relax, [Gabriele] Massaglia’s team [of Selle Italia]… I think the guys with real climbers on GC should really take over.”
Quietly subdued
The mood at the start in Bird Island could have been described as ‘quietly subdued’. As the sun shone on their backs, the 139 riders left in the race were smiling, but a hard, bumpy road ahead meant the smiles were somewhat subdued, and would slowly fade away as the day wore on – no doubt many of these turning to grimaces with two categorized climbs near the finish.
Sure enough, more than a few pairs of twitchy legs translated into a series of early attacks, beginning with a large group of 26 and finishing with a lead break of three 15km into the race, Denmark’s Nielsen Kristoffer, Selle Italia’s Philippe Schnyder and DFL-Cyclingnews’ Kane Oakley the men at the head.
Behind them, an 11-man chase was on, but it was way too dangerous for it to work, and the peloton was on them before they knew it. But it didn’t dissuade another group of eight from trying, who successfully made the junction to the lead trio shortly after the first sprint at km 37.9.
Apparently, it was 11 too many for Discovery Channel, who, after 50km, shut down the move for good. The regrouping didn’t last for long, though, a three-man counter from Down Under skipping away 10k later, comprised of Aussies Peter Herzig (FRF Couriers-NSWIS), Cameron Jennings (DFL-Cyclingnews) and New Zealand team member Paul Odin.
The Australasian breakaway showed plenty of commitment, enjoying a maximum lead of two-and-a-half minutes. However, in the last 50 clicks, the two climbs in short succession saw their hard-earned advantage wither away to a matter of seconds by the top of the final climb, marking 26km left to race. Putting paid to their chances was the long downhill finish to Xihaizhen, and with 20km to go, it became situation status quo.
From that moment on, a bunch sprint became a formality, but not so clear was the final outcome, Davis only just getting the better of Stage 2 winner Schulze with a perfect throw of the bike, reversing the outcome of yesterday.
The road ahead…… is not so easy. At 172 kilometers, the second longest leg will take the peloton straight into the clouds, where the tour will find its highest point following a hors catégorie climb of mammoth proportions, topping out at 3,880 meters above sea level. From there, it’s almost 70km to the finish to Guide, so with a little help from those around them, more than a few stragglers should be able to catch back on.
That said, out of the first 18 on the overall classification, one should have a clearer picture of just who will stand tall at the end of this mountainous tour in the “Chinese Alps.”
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