Daniel Schorn is coming ever closer to the podium in China: On the ninth stage of the Tour of Qinghai Lake, which started and finished in Tianshui, the Austrian from Team NetApp-Endura was fifth over the finish line. “But we could have done better”, says André Schulze, the team’s Sport Director. “So we’re still not satisfied with this result. Our objective is clear – we want a stage win here in China.”

At the end of a super-fast stage on the urban course around Tianshui, which saw breakaway groups causing havoc and hazards time and again, Schorn was initially in a perfect position. But in the final curve, a good 500 meters before the finish, the 25-year-old lost the rear wheel of his lead-out rider Blaž Jarc. “That was really frustrating of course, because afterwards he was hemmed in and immediately moved down five places”, explains Schulze after this short stage of the Tour of Qinghai Lake, which was completed at an average speed of almost 50 kilometers per hour. “But we are not giving up and are going to keep trying.”

Victory in the ninth stage of the Tour of Qinghai Lake, which has again emerged as the high-speed stage, went to the Turkish rider Ahmet Örken. The Team Torku Şekerspor rider, who is only 21, overtook 36-year-old German top sprinter Robert Förster from the UnitedHealthcare team after 118 kilometers, also passing 26-year-old Ukrainian Mykhaylo Kononenko from Kolss Cycling Team, who had already clinched the third stage in China. Kazakh rider Ilya Davidenok from Astana-Profi still leads the pack in the overall rankings.

The tenth stage of the Tour of Qinghai Lake will take riders from Tianshui to Pingliang tomorrow, with a route that climbs from 1000 meters above sea level at the start to over 2200 meters. There are two mountain classifications in the 227-kilometer-long stage towards Pingliang, a city of two million, both close to the city. “Given the profile, we can once again expect an open race with a lot of attacks. Bearing in mind the oppressive 30°C heat, it won’t be an easy race”, predicts Schulze. The objective for Team NetApp-Endura is clear: “First, we have to try to defend our position in the overall rankings and in the team rankings, and we can’t allow any dangerous groups to get away out of our control. Then we’ll see what the finale brings. Naturally, we’ve got nothing against a sprint.”