GUIDE, Qinghai, July 24 (Xinhua) -- Newly crowned Romanian champion Eduard Grosu showed admirable mettle as he rallied to win the first hors categorie climb of the Tour of Qinghai Lake on Tuesday.
The "highest altitude bike race in the world" began to live up to its billing on the third stage as the two-week, 13-stage crown jewel of the UCI Asia Tour ascended 3,820 meters on the first mountain day of the race.
Riders began to fall off the back of the pack like loose debris when they hit the ascent. Grosu, of the Italian professional continental team Nippo-Vini Fantini, struggled in climbing the slopes but managed to pace up when going downhill.
In the final stretch, the 25-year-old Romanian rider raced forward and crossed the line ahead of Italian Luca Pacioni (Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia) and Eritrean Meron Abraham (Bike Aid) in the select sprint group.
"It was a very nice day," said Grosu. "My teammates waited for me on the climb because I was dropped there. We came back on the final of the downhill. Pacioni closed on me [in the] last 300 meters, but I was waiting and afterwards I [went] outside on the left and did a very nice sprint," he said.
For the 24-year-old Pacioni, it was a hard-fought second-place result.
With the win, Grosu became the third race leader in as many days to wear the yellow jersey. He took it from stage 2 winner Brenton Jones (Delko-Marseille Provence KTM), while Pacioni, who is three seconds off Grosu, also claimed the green points jersey from the Australian sprinter, who finished 17 minutes adrift.
It was big about-face for Grosu, who finished dead last on the same stage from Duoba to Guide last year, 27 minutes and 3 seconds behind winner Stanislau Bazhkou (Minsk Cycling Club).
Despite the win, Grosu admitted he did not feel in fine form after opting to race the Sibiu Cycling Tour (2.1) instead of attending altitude camp. "I don't feel good," said the 2014 Qinghai stage winner. "Hopefully in the second week I will do a better job."
While Grosu topped the general classification, Wilier GC rider Ilia Koshevoy once again found himself in the polka-dot jersey after claiming the first King of the Mountain jersey, but not without a price.
The 27-year-old Belarusian crashed in the descent, and must now face three consecutive race-deciding mountain stages in order to reach his goal of snatching the yellow jersey.
"Just like last year I took the KOM jersey on this climb because for me this climb is very good," Koshevoy explained. "I performed well and took the jersey, but after the descent we crashed and now I hope I can perform [on the] next day as well. I hope it will not affect me, but to crash before the next three hard days will make it very challenging," Koshevoy said.
The 17th edition of Qinghai Lake resumes on Wednesday with a 100-kilometre mountain stage featuring two categorized climbs, including a Cat.1 and Cat.2, from Guide to Longyangxia.
