Dan Martin was right in the mix at the end of stage 2 of the Tour of Beijing. Smog permitting, he looks likely to make his move when the real climbing starts and is clearly still in great form.
By Brian Canty
Dan Martin was right in the hunt for stage 2 honours today at the Tour of Beijing, taking fifth in the bunch sprint and moving up to 20th overall at 11 seconds.
With time bonuses on the line and the five-day, WorldTour stage race usually decided by just a handful of seconds, the Irishman knew he needed to contest the gallop today in Yanqing, which was won by Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing Team).
The Belgian now leads the race overall, taking the jersey from overnight leader Luka Mezgec (Team Giant Shimano) who won yesterday’s opener in Zhangjiakou.
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Second place today went to South Africa Janse Van Rensburg (Team Giant Shimano) with 2013 world champion Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida) in third while a host of top GC men made up the top 10.
Gilbert takes victory on the shortened stage and with it the race lead
Interestingly, the stage was a relatively short one because it was cut from 145 kilometres to 111km due to the smog that cloaked Beijing and the surrounding area.
So it was little surprise to see the riders whip around the course in less than two and a half hours, despite the two climbs that punctuated the journey.
It was a very lively start today with a four-man group breaking clear containing Alexis Gougeard (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Laurent Mangel (FDJ), Fabio Silvestre (Trek Factory Racing) and Julian Alaphilippe (Omega Pharma-QuickStep). They built a lead of two minutes at one point.
Alaphilippe returned to the peloton soon after with Silvestre struggling to match Gougeard and Mangel as Katusha, BMC and Giant Shimano led the chase.
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Not exactly blue skies all the way in China; the shortening of the stage because of poor air quality is a public relations disaster for the race and for Beijing.
With 10 kilometres to go the gap to the leaders was down to around half a minute and they were absorbed by the bunch as Team Sky controlled the field in the closing stages, neutralising one last-ditch attack from Manuele Boaro (Tinkoff Saxo) on the final climb.
Colombian Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge) lifted the pace as the climb began to ramp up towards the line but it was Rensburg who opened his sprint first.
With Gilbert on his wheel it was only a matter of time before the Belgian kicked, and he duly came around the Giant Shimano rider to take his first win since June, with Martin just a few riders further back.
Philip Deignan did some huge pulls for his Sky team and he paid for those efforts by losing 16 seconds. However, with Davide Lopez right in the mix - 13th overall, at 11seconds - it was a case of job done ahead of stage three.
Deignan is now 42nd at 27 seconds.
The riders did their fair share of hanging around as negotiations continued about what form the stage should take.
Stage 2: Chong Li to Yanqing 147.5km
1 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) BMC Racing 2:29:02
2 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Team Giant Shimano
3 Rui Alberto Faria da Costa (Por) Lampre-Merida
4 Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Team Katusha
5 Daniel Martin (Irl) Garmin-Sharp
6 Pieter Serry (Bel) Omega Pharma-QuickStep
7 Jesus Herrada Lopez (Spa) Movistar
8 Johan Esteban Chaves Rubio (Col) Orica-GreenEdge
9 Daryl Impey (RSA) Orica-GreenEdge
10 Mickaël Chérel (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale
39 Philip Deignan (Irl) Team Sky @16secs
General Classification
1 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) BMC Racing 6:51:49
2 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Team Giant Shimano @5secs
3 Rui Alberto Faria da Costa (Por) Lampre-Merida @7secs
4 Jesus Herrada Lopez (Spa) Movistar @11secs
5 Pieter Serry (Bel) Omega Pharma-QuickStep
6 Mickaël Chérel (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale
7 Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Team Katusha
8 Rigoberto Urán (Col) Omega Pharma-QuickStep
9 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Giant Shimano
10 Julian Arredondo (Col) Trek Factory Racing
11 Daryl Impey (RSA) Orica-GreenEdge
12 Paul Martens (Ger) Belkin Pro Cycling
13 David Lopez Garcia (Spa) Team Sky
14 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) Ag2r-La Mondiale
15 Carlos Alberto Betancur Gomez (Col) Ag2r-La Mondiale all same
42 Philip Deignan (Irl) Team Sky @27 secs
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