In his final race as a Garmin-Sharp rider, Tyler Farrar broke his drought when he took a convincing sprint win on stage 3 of the Tour of Beijing. The American was relieved to finally take a win after having nearly been dropped on the final climb.

Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Sharp) broke a 372-day winless drought on Sunday, sprinting to victory to claim Stage 3 of the 2014 Tour of Beijing after 4:15:46 and 176km.
 
Having finished third on the opening stage, American Farrar timed his run to perfection, withLuka Mezgec (Giant-Shimano) in second place followed by Nikolas Maes (Omega Pharma – Quick-Step) in a peloton numbering 79 riders in the bunch across the finish line at Qianjiadian Chao Yang Temple Temple.
 
Farrar’s last win was at the Tour de l’Eurometropole in 2013, with a number of close calls throughout the 2014 season. This time, his win was a convincing one, with over a bike length back to Mezgec which also netted him the lead in the points classification.
 
“It was a long time coming this season,” the 30-year-old explained at the finish. “It was a year of seconds and thirds and fourths so to finally win, so close to maybe one of my last chances of the year I’m really happy.”
 
On a stage featuring seven categorized climbs over stunning mountain vistas, the peloton didn’t have a chance to take in the views with fast technical descents, including the final 11km run into the finish. After a number of attacks, the sprinter’s teams came to the fore in the final kilometres with Sky, Giant-Shimano, Katusha and Belkin all moving to the front. Orica-GreenEdge looked to be in control as they attempted to set up the win for young gun Caleb Ewan who hit the lead with 200m remaining before fading to 10th.  Farrar concerned he started his run too late.
 
“I had the legs but there was definitely some luck involved there,” the former grand tour stage winner said. “It was a hard day and I just barely made it over the last climb. I had a hard time getting back to the front of the race. I think I came out of that last corner, really way too far back and I just got lucky that a hole opened up and I was able to go for it.”