Wu delivers first Chinese victory in eight years

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For the past seven editions of the Tour of Qinghai Lake Chinese riders have tried in vain to win a stage of the race. Slowly, they have improved as riders, gradually moving up the ranks as their experience increased. Yesterday, they almost came of age as previous winner of the Asian rider classification, Fuyu Li (Marco Polo), came oh-so-close to besting the field in the 4.8 kilometre prologue.

Today, however, they hit the jackpot. Wu Shengjun, a native of Xining - the unofficial headquarters of the race and host to the traditional finishing criterum - first saw this race as a wide eyed 14-year-old seven years ago and departed today from his home town with the intention of showing himself at the front of the race with a gutsy attack just six kilometres into the stage. What he got in return was the first stage victory for a Chinese rider, as he hung on to win in front of a huge crowd in Tongren by just six seconds ahead of the overall leader, Andrey Mizurov.

Wu's attack with Zhang Wenlong (China) was not taken as a serious threat for either the stage win or the overall classification and they quickly amassed a time gap of over 14 minutes in the first 30 kilometres of racing. It was only when the gap to then then lone leader - after Wu had jettisoned his breakaway partner on the only major climb of the day - hovered at almost 17 minutes with 70 kilometres remaining, the peloton was forced to sit up and take notice.

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At first they set a steady tempo, bringing the gap down to just over 10 minutes with 40 kilometres remaining, but when the peloton began to splinter just 10 kilometres later due to unexpected crosswinds, panic set in.

Sensing an opportunity to extends his overall lead, as the peloton began to suffer in a cocktail of altitude, extreme heat and crosswinds, overnight leader Mizurov set off on in search of the lone leader and the possibility of another stage win. With him he took Sweden's Niklas Axelsson (Team Corratec).

This pair of seasoned professionals, both of whom have ridden in category one teams for many years, worked together like a well-oiled machine, quickly pulled away from the now splintered peloton taking huge chunks of time out of Wu's lead in the process.

Mizurov and Axelsson rode the next 30 kilometres at such a pace that they took a further eight minutes out of Wu's lead, giving themselves just two minutes and 43 seconds to reel in in the last 10 kilometres.

By now, 22-year-old Wu had been out in front for over 160 kilometres and the toll was beginning to show as he dragged his depleted body towards Tongren. With two professionals chasing, who between them possessed more years of racing experience than Wu's tender age, it seemed inevitable that the youngster's day would soon be over.

Yet Wu defied the odds.

Squeezing every ounce of energy out of his body, he approached the final kilometre and shortly thereafter the finish banner - no doubt an image he had played over and over in his head for the past four and a half hours - with just enough power to spare. Behind him, two riders moving at almost twice his speed, could see the rider almost half their age, raise his arms in victory as he crossed the line as the first Chinese winner of a stage in the Tour of Qinghai Lake. All that was left for them to do was sprint for the runner up position.

"I never expected this, but after the KOM sprint, I thought that I maybe had a chance so I gave it my best," Wu said.

Axelsson and Mizurov put their cards on the table

For Axelsson and Mizurov the stage may not have been a total success, however they did show the rest of the peloton - by putting the best part of two minutes between themselves and their nearest rivals - that they are here, they are strong and they want to win. The pair currently occupy first and third on general classification. Wu is placed second overall at 15 seconds but it may be considered wishful thinking to believe that he is capable of holding his position after his efforts today.

"I will try to do a good race here. For my team this is a big race, so we want to do the best that we can," Axelsson explained.

"Maybe we waited to long. I think that we gave him too much time. I attacked from the peloton, because it wasn't organised - the teams didn't want to work together.

"In the end he just had too big a lead, and we just couldn't catch him."

Mizurov had a similar sentiment to that of Axelsson, but added: "Today it was very hot and it was very hard to race, because of the high altitude. I am very tired after today."

When asked if his attack was planned he simply responded "Today I was second, but I will do my best to go one better."

Maybe as clarification, or possibly just a skill he picked up riding alongside some of the worlds best during his time at Mercatone Uno, Team Telekom or Astana Mizurov backed up this comment with: "But, I have no expectations here, I am just here to do my best."

But does anyone have a better hand to play?

After a stage which ended in what can be best described as a free for all, with Axelsson and Mizurov coming up trumps, it looks as though these two rider are certainly the two strongest contenders for the overall title, and their pedigree as grand tour riders certainly backs this up.

However with eight stages still to run the fat lady hasn't even entered the building yet, so it may be a little too early to start throwing all the pennies into one basket. There is still an abundance of talent left in the field and as the peloton winds its way around the largest inland salt water lake over the course of the next week anything can happen.