Tour of Chong Ming Island - 2.2

China, April 15-19, 2006

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Stage 1 - April 15: Yingtong - Xingxin, 102.5 km

McLachlan takes opening honours

Drapac Porsche team report

The Tour of Chong Ming Island (a large alluvium island in the Yangtze delta 30km north of Shanghai) started today with a 102km circuit race in the city centre of Chengqiao, the island’s main city. A huge crowd turned out to line the 4km course and two Chinese television networks broadcast the stage live. In a country preparing to host the Olympic Games in two years no stone was left unturned in the quest to show off the organizational ability of the nation.

Amongst the 15 teams contesting the event were Australian continental team Drapac Porsche, British team DFL – CyclingNews, Giant Asia from Taiwan, Kazakhstan’s Capec team, Chinese team Marco Polo, the South African national team and American continental team Rite Aid – all outfits with depth and riders capable of winning the race.

Drapac Porsche rider Rob McLachlan took up at where he left off at last month’s Tour of Taiwan (where he won 4 stages), winning 2 intermediate sprints and the stage to take the first yellow jersey of the race. In a race that saw constant attacks from a frisky field, the men in red were able to put McLachlan in the right place when it counted and stay clear of the inevitable crashes. Stuart Shaw and Mitch Docker also picked up sprint bonuses and were perhaps unlucky to miss a 1-2 finish after a South African rider fouled Shaw’s run to the line with some highly illegal manoeuvring. Capec rider Valeriy Dmitriyev took second in a photo finish from Sergei Koudentsov of Marco Polo.

Day 2 sees the race traverse the upstream end of the island in a 3-lap, 179km pancake flat stage. With only a little wind expected tomorrow the race will likely come down to another bunch sprint.

Results

1 Robert McLachlan (Aus) Drapac Porsche     2.15.09 (45.5km/h)
2 Valeriy Dmitriyev (Kaz) Capec
3 Serghei Koudentsov (Rus) Marco Polo
4 Darren Lill (RSA) South Africa
5 Rupert Rheeder (RSA) South Africa
...
10 Fuyu Li (Chn) Marco Polo Cycling Team

General classification after stage 1

1 Robert McLachlan (Aus) Drapac Porsche     2.14.51 
2 Valeriy Dmitriyev (Kaz) Capec                0.12
3 Serghei Koudentsov (Rus) Marco Polo          0.14
4 Nolan Hoffman (RSA) South Africa 
5 Stuart Shaw (Aus) Drapac Porsche             0.16