Third time's the charm for Metlushenko

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This is the third time that Yuriy Metlushenko has visited China to compete in the Tour of Qinghai Lake, but for this tough sprinter who spends most of his time racing in the USA for Amore e Vita, today will go down as the most memorable stage. The Ukrainian burst out from the mess of riders as climbers, rouleurs and sprinters all vied for the stage victory on the wide finishing straight into Xihaizhen, to best Matej Stare and Danilo Hondo.

His victory in the third bunch sprint of the tour caps of his comeback from a nasty crash in Washington just a month ago.

"I crashed one month ago in Washington and have had some problems with my head, now I have this victory," said an overjoyed Metlushenko shortly before climbing the top step of the podium to celebrate his win with champagne.

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"Today was thanks to the great work that my team has put in, from the mechanic to the directors and the riders.

"I am very happy. This is my third time in China, but only my first victory. Hopefully not the last," he said.

For Slovenia's Matej Stare second place was the best that he could manage against the very quick Ukrainian.

"The organisation for this sprint was not very good," Stare said. "The sprint was very fast, I had a good position, but I could only manage second."

With two capable sprinters in its team, Stare and Jure Kocjan, Slovenia was looking for another win today after Kocjan's win in stage three, but for the second day running the team's plans were foiled on the line. Stare and Kocjan now share three second places between them in this tour.

Today's third placed rider, and the most experienced sprinter among them, Danilo Hondo (PSK-Whirlpool) shared the Slovenians' sentiment that today's sprint to the line was highly unorganised.

"On the last climb we went to the front to work to catch the break. The finale was a little bit disorganised, because we came into the city with a lot of speed," Hondo said.

"The Ukraine team was very good, they worked well for Yuriy Metlushenko. I started my sprint a little bit too early and, yeah, I got third place. Metlushenko is also fast."

Today was the German's second appearance on the podium, but he is still yet to stand as the winner in front of the huge crowds which have gathered each day. Arriving just the night before the opening stage, Hondo and his Czech team have struggled to acclimatise, but with each day are growing stronger.

"Everything is still possible, one day you feel bad and the next day you can win. Today was okay for the points jersey. We are getting better and better."

Finally some sun

After the past few stages, which have seen the large peloton buffeted by rain and cooler weather, the weather gods in China finally doused the riders with the sun's rays.

As the stage departed Bird Island, a flurry of attacks began as those riders who had spent the past few days suffering at the hands of the climbers or in the rain, seemed eager and energised by the sun.

However, each attack was countered and then pulled back by the peloton, until two Chinese riders, Hui Guo (Max Success Sports) and Song Baoqing (China) leapt off the front after 57 kilometres.

With both riders no threat to the overall classification the peloton relaxed and settled into setting a tempo, just quick enough to minimise the chance of further attacks and keeping the two riders, who had now been joined by Ma Haijun (Qinghai Tianyoude), within striking distance.

This is how the situation remained for next 90 kilometres, as the trio out front never gained more than three minutes.

After cresting the final small climb of the day, and with 25 kilometres of mainly downhill remaining, the peloton began to quickly eat away at their lead as they set about controlling the race for the sprinters.

By the time the three leaders reached the 10 kilometre to go mark, their day in the sun was all but over, as Ukraine moved to the front to set up the sprint for Metlushenko.

Another day of active rest for the GC contenders

As was most of the peloton, the general classification riders were happy to soak up the sun and use the day as a active rest day before the tour heads to some high mountains tomorrow and Saturday.

Andrey Mizurov summed up the feeling of the rest of the contenders the best, describing tomorrow as "the real start of the race for overall."