Dan Martin pipped for stage win at Tour of Beijing; holds KOH jersey and now 3rd overall

Dan Martin, in the climbers’ jersey on the right, is just pipped on the line for the stage win in Beijing

Dan Martin’s desire to take his first win of the season perhaps cost him victory at the end of a testing Tour of Beijing third stage today, when he went for the finish too early and was pipped on the line and forced to settle for second.

The Irishman looks like one of the very strongest riders in the race and did enough on the climbs today to consolidate his lead in the climbers’ classification. He will be very frustrated after failing to add the stage win to cap what was a very strong ride today. He does, however, have the consolation of having moved from 6th to 3rd overall.

Martin took second on the first climb of the day, a 2nd category ascent at the 19km mark. With an early seven-man breakaway of seven riders building a lead of well over four minutes at one point, the Irishman failed to score on the next two climbs, where the escapees mopped up all of the points on offer.

When that breakaway was reeled in, the big show started in the closing kilometres as the riders braced themselves for the final 1km ramp up to the finish. Just before that climb started, Team Sky rider Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky) put in a devastating attack with 3km remaining.

He caught and passed Igor Anton (Euskaltel-Euskadi), who had gone clear on a rise shortly before the Norwegian made his move. Boasson Hagen put his down and went for home, building a lead of 20 seconds at one point. However, stage 2 winner and overall leader Tony Martin (Omega Pharma – Quick Step) took matters into his own hands after he sensed his lead was in danger.

He closed the gap right down before Dan Martin and his Garmin-Sharp Giro-winning team mate Ryder Hesjedal took it up to finish off closing down Boasson Hagen inside 200 metres to go. Dan Martin then continued his charge to the line and looked as if he was going to capture a stage, until Astana’s Francesco Gavazzi swept by him at the death.

Dan Martin was second, while Boasson Hagen did enough to hang on for third. The time bonuses on the line and the fracturing of the peloton up the climb to the finish has reshaped the overall classification.

Tony Martin remains in the lead and stage winner Gavazzi remains second but has closed the gap by 10 seconds and is now 40 seconds adrift. Dan Martin jumps from sixth to third, and is now just 50 seconds down having closed that deficit to Tony Martin by six seconds today.

Dan Martin also now leads the mountains classification with 26 points, with his nearest challenger Pim Ligthart (Vacansoleil) on 17 points.

There are two more road stages before the race ends on Saturday.

Stage 3: Green Sea Forest Park - Yan Qing Ba Da Ling Great Wall 162.5km

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General Classification