Luka Mezgec (SLO) has picked up from where he left off at the Tour of Beijing following his final stage win of the 2013 edition, with the opening stage victory at this year's race.

After being brought into position in the final kilometres by his Team Giant-Shimano teammates, Mezgec stayed calm through the final corners and positioned himself in fourth wheel into the final bend before the finish. From here he was able to power through for his sixth win of the season, the first since his Giro d'Italia stage win.

"I suffered today as it was constantly up and down and the race was at quite high altitude for a long time.”

"The team was strong in helping control early on and then keeping me in position when it was hard, keeping me fresher for the finish,” Luka Mezgec said.

"The plan was to stick me in the right wheel at the front in the final few kilometres and this worked perfectly. It's great to win again here in Beijing and hopefully we can continue this week with other opportunities for us. It will be hard to defend the overall in the next few days before the mountain stage but we will see tomorrow how it is,” Mezgec continued.

Coach of Giant-Shimano Lionel Marie said the stage went well for the team. They controlled the pace of the peloton and this succeeded in a stage win.

"The stage went well for us today. We tried to stabilise the race in the first 65km, with Cheng [Ji] helping set the pace and he did a good job there.”

"Then the guys rode well together as the chase really picked up. The plan was to get Luka up into position in the wheels in the final kilometres. They came up together with four to go and then Tobias dropped him off at the front as planned. Luka prefers sprinting this way and sometimes it is better to be flexible like this.”

The team will try to defend the lead in the GC tomorrow, but Marie points out that stage 3 and 4 is a bit hard.

"From here he stayed calm and found the right wheel to go from at the finish. We will try to defend the lead tomorrow, but the third and fourth stages are harder and will change the race, but we have options for these stages as well.”

"It is great to still be winning this late in the season, and shows how the team spirit keeps everyone motivated and pushing to keep challenging."