Tinkoff-Saxo hoped to win the Tour of Beijing with Alberto Contador but when the Spaniard cancelled his participation, the team was left without its leader. Hence, they have had a hard time in the Chinese race and today they again came up short in the queen stage.

Tinkoff-Saxo’s Rory Sutherland hung on to the GC contenders during today’s 157 kilometer long fourth and penultimate stage of Tour of Beijing from Yanqing to the uphill finish on Mentougou Miaofeng Mountain but he couldn’t follow stage winner, Dan Martin when he opened a long sprint to take stage glory.

A handful of riders created today’s long-lasting breakaway after 25 kilometers of riding but the GC teams were holding the front group within sight throughout the day. The Tinkoff-Saxo riders remained together in the pack while the GC teams were fighting for position on the front of the peloton before the final climb.

Hitting the foot of the uphill finish, Julien Vermote (Omega-Pharma Quick Step) launched an attack from the breakaway while Tinkoff-Saxo’s Danish national champion, Michael Valgren attacked from the bunch. However, halfway up the climb the chasing pack brought everyone back. Instantly, Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp) took off and quickly created a gap to a select group of chasers including Tinkoff-Saxo’s Rory Sutherland. Dangling like a carrot in front of the chasers, Hesjedal kept a lead of about 10 seconds for the next 4 kilometers but entering the final 1000 meters, he was caught.

While Sutherland was struggling to hang on to the tail of the chase group, Dan Martin (Garmin-Sharp) jumped out of his saddle in a furious attack that lasted for 900 meters and he kept everyone behind him to take the stage win.

Tinkoff-Saxo’s Rory Sutherland finished 16th and is now 18th overall. Philippe Gilbert (BMC) still leads overall.

DS Philippe Mauduit comments:

“Alberto was supposed to be our man for the GC and we brought a bunch of riders to support him targeting the GC but when he crashed in Italy, we were left with his supporting riders in Beijing. However, the boys are doing a good job considering and with Kroon yesterday we’re making our selves visible. Rory followed the big guns for a long time today and was only dropped on the final 900 meters. Now, there’s only one more stage to go and we’ll make the best of it.”