Rui Costa had done nothing to hide that he aimed to win the Tour of Beijing overall. However, he had to settle for fourth in today's queen stage and he admits that he had hoped for a better outcome of the five-day race.

With a strong showing in Il Lombardia, Rui Costa had marked himself out as one of the favourites for the Tour of Beijing. However, the Portuguese seems destined to finish fourth overall after he failed to match Dan Martin's speed in today's queen stage.

"Well, today's stage didn't exactly turn out as I had hoped it would," he wrote on Facebook. "That final climb was a bit too explosive for my traits, and I simply couldn't do any better than that. I really wanted the final podium, but... It just slipped my grasp. It's a pity, because I gave it all I had, but well...Win some, lose some...It doesn't always go in one's favor.

"If today's stage was a number, it would have to be number four. Fourth place in today's stage, fourth overall, fourth place in the UCI World Ranking, and that's the way all classifications are expected to end, if nothing awkward happens. Tomorrow's stage is completely flat with a sprint finish, and serves as sort of a victory parade for the leader. I have no chances in sprints, not even in the intermediate ones, since these should go to whoever will be on tomorrow's predictable breakaway.

"I can't really say that I'm happy, but I'm resigned to my fourth place, and on the bright side of things, it's a few more points for the World Ranking. Now, these points make no difference for my individual classification, nor my team's, but my country will move up in the nation's board, and that simultaneously makes me happy for Portugal, and also provides me with some sort of solace. 

"It is time to thank everyone at Lampre-Merida for the hard work they put in this Tour of Beijing with my classification in mind, and of course, to every single one of you my friends, for being there for me, no matter if times are good or bad for me."