Veelers rescues Skil-Shimano's Chinese Tour

Skil-Shimano came to the Tour of Qinghai Lake with high hopes. With two riders capable of riding well in the mountains - terrain that Qinghai has in abundance - it seemed totally feasible that they could finish in the top five riders on the general classification. However some things are just not meant to be. Sickness and unfortunate circumstances lead to three of their riders, two of whom were their designated classification riders – Theo Eltink and Steve Houanard – ending their race early.

Today Tom Veelers turned the Dutch squad's luck around, and it was just in time too. For the second time in as many years the young Dutch sprinter was the victor in Xining. Last year it was in an uphill sprint after stage six. This year he took his victory on the final stage's street circuit which, like the Tour de France's final stage on the Champs Elysées, is a tradition for this great bike race, just eight years young.

"Last year I also won here in Xining, it was the sixth stage and now it was the last. I would have liked to win a stage earlier, but with a second and a 5th I just didn't have enough. Now it all came together and I crossed the line as the winner.

"We had a lot of bad luck with our classification riders. We lost Steve Houanard already in the third stage, then Theo Eltink through sickness and then we lost Yukihiro Doi thanks to a faulty start ramp in the prologue where he bruised his ribs. After falling on his ribs again, it was all over. It was a real shame."

With so much bad luck in the past ten days, the team can finally celebrate as winners in China.

"This makes it all better. If you win a stage then it is always a success."

For today's runner up, Jure Kocjan (Slovenia), today's stage was bitter-sweet. The time bonus he netted by placing second was enough to move him up the overall classification to fifth overall – the only rider in the top ten to move – but a mistake by the judges, which saw them ring the bell for the first intermediate sprint two laps early cost him the overall win in the race for the green jersey.

"Today I was fighting for the green jersey, but the commissaire made a mistake ringing the bell two laps before the actual sprint.

"I sprinted for the intermediate sprint, but then they said that the sprint was in two laps. I lost the green jersey because of the commissaire," Kocjan explained.

An appeal to the judges' decision by Kocjan was rejected, and the green jersey awarded to Radoslav Rogina (Loborika), who has worn the jersey since stage three.

"I appealed the decisions, but all they said was that they made a mistake, but that is sport. Now I don't have a green jersey, not because I wasn't good enough, but because of their mistake," a disappointed Kocjan said at the award ceremony following the stage.

Mizurov anonymous as he crosses the line, but head and shoulders above the rest overall

For overall winner, Andrey Mizurov (Tabriz-Petrochemicals) today's stage was a mere formality, a stage for the sprinters. The Kazakh finished the stage mid-pack, surrounded by teammates eager to congratulate him on his dominate victory in the ten day event.

For 100 kilometres or so Mizurov could be seen chatting to fellow members of he peloton, who were obviously keen to show their appreciation of his imposing overall win. As the stage formalities wound up, the smile of victory was hard to wipe from his face, as he happily signed autographs for an enthusiastic mob of Chinese fans.

"Yesterday the race finished. Today I only had to sit in the group, as the stage was made for the sprinters," Mizurov explained.

When asked if he would celebrate the win tonight with his Tabriz-Petrochemicals team, which also took out the overall win in the mountains classification with Ghadar Mizbani Iranagh - who also took second overall – and the Asian rider classification with Mizurov along with the overall teams prize, Mizurov said with a wry grin: "I don't know, I don't know we will look at the situation."

Whatever they may conclude, it is a situation is worth celebrating.

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