Going into the sprint on stage 3 of the Tour of Beijing, Ben Swift was in the perfect position on the wheel of his teammate Edvald Boasson Hagen. However, the Brit lost his position and so the fatigued Norwegian was forced to do the sprint himself.

Edvald Boasson Hagen sprinted to sixth place on day three of the Tour of Beijing after Tyler Farrar had bagged an impressive victory outside the Qianjiadian Temple.

Boasson Hagen had been working for Ben Swift as the lumpy 176km trek from Yanqing neared its conclusion, but when Swift became detached on the long closing straight, the Norwegian battled on but ran out of gas just metres before the finish.

Farrar (Garmin-Sharp) had timed his kick to perfection, and swept past his rivals down the right-hand side before celebrating a comfortable triumph over Luka Mezgec (Giant-Shimano) and Nikolas Maes (Omega Pharma - Quick-Step).

That result had little bearing on the general classification, and Philippe Gilbert’s presence in the front group ensured the BMC rider preserved his five-second lead over Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (Giant-Shimano) at the top of the standings. Boasson Hagen and David Lopez meanwhile, sit just 11 seconds back in 13th and 14th positions respectively.

After the stage, Sports Director Servais Knaven confirmed that things hadn’t run quite to plan in the sprint, but he was pleased with his riders’ efforts and believes they are in good shape heading into the queen stage on Monday.

“The boys were riding for Swifty but he got held up just after the last corner which meant he spent too much energy trying to get back before the sprint. It was a pity because the team had ridden really well together throughout the stage.

“Swifty told me the lead-out they’d given him was perfect, but he just lost the wheel at the end there. Edvald tried his best in the final, but the efforts he’d produced for Swifty meant he tired in the sprint.

“They will rest up now and be good to go again tomorrow. That’s the hardest stage of the race and it’ll be a battle of the fittest. We’ll be riding for David and Philip [Deignan] but it’s hard to know how they will do against the other GC contenders because they have been riding as domestiques for most of the season.

“We’ll do everything we can for them, and Dario might also have a go as well, so we’ve got plenty of cards to play and hopefully we can be right up there on GC this time tomorrow.”