After his great Giro d'Italia, Julian Arredondo has been suffering in the second part of the season. Today he finished 7th in the Tour of Beijing, confirming to the Trek management that he is back to his normal self.

The 117-kilometer final stage started in Tiananmen Square then steered through 17.5kms of central Beijing to an eight-kilometer circuit around the Bird's Nest Piazza near the 2008 Olympic stadium, which the peloton completed 12 times.

The stage was certainly tipped towards a sprint finish, however, the two-man breakaway gave a thrilling show to end the fifth stage as the sprinters’ teams left the chase late, not catching the duo until inside the final kilometer.

The final dash to the line was sheer bedlam, and a headwind finish added to the risky late catch leaving Danny van Poppel unable to find the right position and best wheel. He finished in 21stplace. 

“With 20kms to go the two guys still had over two minutes so we began to pull, and the other teams, too, but in the end Danny could not find the good spot or the good wheel," sports director Adriano Baffi said. "It was a headwind sprint and Danny was boxed in; he could not move forward, and he realized it was too late to fight for a high placing. It was a tricky finish, and today was maybe the only day that we have less than what we expected."

Sacha Modolo  (Lampre-Merida) won the stage over Gregory Henderson (Lotto Belisol) and Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky). The general classification remained unchanged: Phillipe Gilbert (BMC) clinched the overall, while Julian Arredondo also held onto his precarious seventh place with none of the five riders holding the same time in GC (5th through 9th) able to steal the one-second time bonus available on two of the laps.

“Today we had to pay close attention to the time bonuses for Julian, as he either could have moved up, or down, in the GC," Baffi said. "In the end nothing changed, so that was good for us. Honestly the seventh place for Julian was very important for him because in Milano- Torino he was good, but Lombardy did not go as well, and this confirms that he is back to his normal self.

"For the young team we had here I believe we have to be happy with what we have achieved this week. We leave with something in the hand, and maybe for Danny it was not how he wanted to finish, but he was sick at the start, and for sure he will have many more chances in his future.”