Team NetApp-Endura went into the seventh stage of the Tour of Qinghai Lake with the goal of saving energy for the upcoming sprint stages. On the first part of today’s 82 km short stage riders completed five laps in Qilian, followed by a 33-kilometer climb that gave climbers the opportunity to prove themselves. Today’s best climber was Yevgeniy Nepomnyachshiy (Continental Team Astana). Pourseyedigolakhour Mirsamad (Tabriz Petrochemical), who leads in the general classification, came in second place; third place went to Emami Rahim (RTS Racing Team).

Iranian Pourseyedigolakhour Mirsamad continues to lead in the general classification, followed by today’s winner Yevgeniy Nepomnyachshiy and Daniil Fominykh (both of Astana Continental).

During the five laps in Qilian, two riders briefly pulled away from the field. The climber’s teams kept the breakaway riders in check and managed to catch up to them shortly before the climb. On the ascent, the best climbers decided today’s victory among themselves.

“We tried to save our energy today. Since we wanted to concentrate on the sprint stages from the very beginning of the tour, we don’t have any specialist climber here with us. Iker kept up on the ascent for a while, put didn’t push himself to the limit. We didn’t want to burn up energy, but focus on tomorrow,” Enrico Poitschke explained.

“Ralf had a good night and is feeling quite well today except for a headache. We hope that everyone will be healthy and recovered tomorrow so we can ride for a stage victory again,” Poitschke continued.

After completing half of the tour and today’s short stage, tomorrow’s eighth stage will cover 201 kilometers from Qilian to Zhangye. At the very beginning riders will face a small category-three mountain classification, followed by another hors-category climb (3,800 m). The 124-kilometer descent to the finish line offers plenty of opportunity to make up for any time deficits. 

Website Tour of Qinghai Lake

1 Stage, Sunday, 7 July – Xining – Xining, 138km
2 Stage, Monday, 8 July – Huzhu – GuiDe, 151km
3 Stage, Tuesday, 9 July – GuiDe – Qinghai Lake, 148km
4 Stage, Wednesday, 10 July – Qinghai Lake – Tianjun, 227km
5 Stage, Thursday, 11 July – Tianjun – Xihaizhen, 203km
6 Stage, Friday, 12 July – Xihaizhen – Qilian, 205km
7 Stage, Saturday, 13 July – Qilian – Qilian, 82km
8 Stage, Sunday, 14 July – Qilian – Zhangye, 200km
Monday, 15 July – Restday
9 Stage, Tuesday, 16 July – Zhangye – Zhangye, 160km
10 Stage, Wednesday, 17 July – Wuwei – Jingtai, 191km
11 Stage, Thursday, 18 July – Yinchuan – Yinchuan, 121km
12 Stage, Friday, 19 July – Zhongwei – Zhongwei, 119km
13 Stage, Saturday, 20 July – Lanzhou – Lanzhou, 77km