THIS WEEK IN PRO CYCLING
Lloyd takes Qinghai Lake lead, Davis takes a hat-trick
Until Wednesday, many believed overall victory in China's Tour of Qinghai Lake would go to one of two teams: Selle Italia with Gabriele Massaglia, or Relax-Gam with Francisco Mancebo. But a 26-year-old Englishman by the name of Daniel Lloyd, a relative unknown who hails from a small London suburb a stone's throw from Heathrow Airport, has set out to prove them wrong.
Courtesy of a five-second bonus after finishing third in a 42-man sprint, won for the third time by Discovery Channel's Allan Davis, the DFL-Cyclingnews rider earned the privilege to don the yellow jersey on Wednesday's fifth stage. And while there's only a second separating he and the rider he displaced, overnight leader Gabriele Massaglia (Selle Italia), Lloyd isn't planning on giving it up.
"I'm very pleased to be in yellow in Qinghai," he said, ever so politely with his clipped English accent.
Rating his chances at 60 percent, Lloyd is nonetheless quietly confident about the days ahead: "Relax are very strong and we've got to watch out for them, but I'm also climbing well, and I don't think anyone's going to get away from me," said the Brit.
The DFL team played their cards to perfection throughout the 115km route, placing a strong rider in the early break to help on Laji mountain, and once on the climb, allowing Selle Italia to do all the pace-making. Said Lloyd: "That was our plan from the start of the day: to get Dan Fleeman into the break, who I know is a really strong climber also. It wasn't too hard, because Selle Italia stayed on the front to drive things and it was a headwind; the wind makes a lot of difference on something like that."
While Davis' victory was a virtual certainty, Massaglia, who as Tuesday's winner Joerg Ludewig mentioned also possesses a good turn of speed, believed second place should've been his: "I'm disappointed because I almost crashed in the sprint finish; for sure, I would have got second behind Allan Davis in the sprint, and I wouldn't be wearing the jersey I've got on now," said the Italian climber, dejectedly pointing to his normal trade team jersey.
Unlike Massaglia, early race leader Davis seems content to be rid of his duties of trying to defend the yellow, and bounced back after crashing the day before to earn his hat-trick at Qinghai Lake. "I was very good today," he said. "I've got no injuries, my team-mates helped me get over the climb today, and that was really the key factor - getting over the climb and being there for the sprint finish.
"As soon as I made the front group, I was intent on going for the sprint," said Davis. "The boys got on the front once again, controlled the race, and brought it back for a bunch sprint - it was actually [climber] Janez Brajkovic who took me up to 200 meters to go - and it was great to be able to finish it off for them."
Exactly one minute separates the top nine men on the overall classification and with two more mountain stages to follow after Thursday's flattish leg around Xining, none of these nine can sleep easy. "Friday and Saturday [Stages 7 and 8] is where it will really count," said Massaglia. "I'm strong, I feel good, so we'll see."
Lloyd, having done this race the previous year when he finished fourth, has the advantage of knowing what to expect, and admitted he'll be counting on that experience in the days ahead: "I think the penultimate day, Stage 8, has the hardest climb from what I remember last year. Certainly, last year, I struggled the most up that climb, but hopefully my form is a little better," he said.
However, the unknown quantity is very much Francisco Mancebo, equal on time with Massaglia and yet to show his true colors, if indeed he possesses the form. "Everyone knows he's a big name in cycling and everybody knows he's a quality rider; if he goes anywhere, there's a few people going after him including myself," said Lloyd.
"I've got a strong team, who have strong riders for the flat and strong riders for the climbs," he continued. "My form is good, and I don't see any reason why we can't take it to the end now."
The best-placed Jelly Belly riders on the stage were Nick Reistad and Andy Bajadali, who finished 15th and 37th respectively, on the same time as the stage winner, with Reistad also the highest-placed member of his team overall, 41st on GC and 16:19 down on Lloyd.
Numbers well down
The rain of Tuesday came back to greet the 122 men left in race - the numbers well down after 12 abandons on Stage 4 and two DNSs Wednesday morning - with the weather at the start in Guide 14 degrees C and soggy.
Maybe a consequence of the rate of attrition, more than a few riders were keen to get a head-start prior to climbing the descent of the day before. Already after four kilometers, a group of six had broken clear, followed by another sextet to make an even dozen out in front.
With 31km covered and both break and bunch on the lower slopes of Laji mountain, the 12 became 10 when Oleksandr Kuachuk (Ukraine) and John Devine (Discovery Channel) decided to leave the front group no more than two clicks later. However, the pair were caught midway up the climb by a solid group of nine, and importantly, each of the top three riders on GC at the start of the day had a man represented.
After 50km, the 11 had withered to eight: Kauchuk, Devine, Philippe Schynder (Selle Italia), Ghader Mizbani (Giant Asia), Daniel Fleeman (DFL-Cyclingnews), Stanislav Kozubek (PSK Whirlpool) and Jose Martinez Castillo (Relax-Gam). However, classy Iranian Mizbani decided it was seven too many, and chose to have a dig on his own, cresting the chilly 3,820 meter-high summit 1:52 in front of Fleeman and Martinez Castillo, with the groupe maillot jaune a further minute behind.
A long, slippery descent to Xining did nothing for Mizbani's chances, who was soon caught by several groups behind him. 24km from the finish, 42 riders found themselves part of the lead group that had virtually all the race favorites including the maillot jaune of Massaglia.
That just left the inevitable sprint finish to follow, and Davis, courtesy of a great lead-out from his team-mates, won his hat-trick of stage wins by a country mile, comfortably beating Fidea's Stybar Zdenek and Lloyd, who picked up just enough bonus seconds to earn him the race lead by a single second.
The road ahead - Thursday's profile, a 208km loop from Xining to Minhe and back to Xining, resembles a wide, corrugated 'V'. By all accounts, the longest day of the tour should end in a bunch gallop, the teams of riders high on GC more than likely happy to have an easy day in the saddle before two crunch days in the mountains to follow. And without the pressure of the yellow jersey, Discovery's Davis would be a safe bet to take what would be a fourth stage victory.
