Hovey wins stage 5 in Mongolia

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Stage 5 was a fast day through the desert. Leaving from the Ongi River Camp, racers rode through the African Savanna-like landscape to Guchin Us on the edge of the Gobi Desert. Carter Hovey won the stage while Cory Wallace retained his overall lead.

Mongolian National Team rider Tuguldur Tuulkhangai (aka "Tugu") flew off the front of the pack with two of his teammates, temporarily stunning the rest of the lead group. The trio put over two minutes on the pack over the first 20 kilometers but eventually blew up as they had set an impossible pace for the 141-kilometer course.

Marcel Hagener and Mohamad Razif Bin Mohamad Salleh, two Chiru-WTB riders, were looking strong during the first two-thirds of the course, hanging on to the lead group made up of Carter Hovey (MBC-Orbea-SMP), Barry Wicks, Kris Sneddon and Cory Wallace (Kona), Pau Zamora (Buff), Peter Paelinck (Reevax) and Delgerbayar Sonomtseren (Mongolia).

Team Kona, Hovey, and Zamora were able to gap the rest of the pack by the second rest stop at 80 kilometers, but Zamora fell off the pace after suffering a mechanical.

A sprint finish ended with Hovey winning stage 5. He was followed by Sneddon and Wicks.

Riders are enjoying an early finish in camp and preparing themselves for the mountain stages which begin tomorrow.

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