Tour of Qinghai Lake Stage 4

Today’s stage of the Tour of Qinghai Lake was a 185 km flat stage around Qinghai Lake. That meant that it was a super windy stage. The whole team rode near the front and helped protect each other for most of the stage. At about 120km into the stage the Park Hotel Valkenburg team lit it up in the cross winds. I could not follow the surge even though I was at the front. I pretty much got spit out of the peloton because I just can’t breathe up here at 10,000 feet. However, the team was able to get Thomas in the front group yet again. He still remains in 6th place overall 10 seconds down. Tomorrow is a 133km stage with something that looks like Skyuka starting at 10,000 feet and finishing at 12,000 feet. We will position Thomas so he can do well on the climb and hopefully take the yellow jersey.

Here is a link to my ride on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/341502809

Tour of Qinghai Lake Stage 3

Today’s stage of the Tour of Qinghai Lake was a tough one. It was 145km long. We climbed for about the first 85km. The goal was to put either myself, Mike, Mattieu, or Kyle into the break. The racing started off aggressive from the gun. After about 10 or 15 km into the stage we had Mattieu and Evan in the break off the front. This put us in a good position. After about 65km Thomas went of the front of our group and at about 70 km in I brought Kyle to the front. Almost instantaneously a few guys went, and he followed them. I knew I couldn’t follow the best guys today, so I decided to conserve energy for later in the week. Up in the break Evan had some bad luck breaking his shifter cable. With about 1km to the top of the climb Evan came to me and Michael’s group. So we had Kyle, Thomas, and Mattieu off the front. Mattieu’s break almost stuck it to the end. Thomas’ group caught Mattieu’s group in the final kilometer. That put Thomas in 6th place in the overall and Mattieu is now in 10th. I rode in in the grupetto, but it was crazy because with about 15 km to go the group started making echelons in the crosswinds. I am not sure why our group did this. I ended up rolling in around 8 minutes down. It is really difficult to breathe up here at over 9000 feet. Just laying in bed is difficult. Climbing the stairs in the hotel is terrible. We will be this high for a few days. Tomorrow’s stage is rolling and 185km long. We will be next to Qinghai Lake for all of it, so there should be some bad wind. It is also supposed to be 55 degrees and raining.

Here is a link to my ride on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/340795687https://www.strava.com/activities/340795687

Tour of Qinghai Lake Stage 2

The second stage of the Tour of Qinghai Lake was 188 km and was another relatively flat one. We did 60km out to a circuit and then did 3 laps on the 43km circuit. The plan was to put either myself, Michael, or Matthieu into the breakaway. From the start the three of us and Kyle followed moves. Matthieu got into a promising group of five but it was reeled back in. Then Michael went in a group of about 10 guys. We went hard up a hill and caught Mike's group. Then the pace slowed for a bit and I decided to go. This was about 30k into the stage. A Chinese rider joined me, but I honestly hoped we had a few more riders. We worked together well. Back in the field, Adria, the team in yellow, controlled the pace for most of the race. There were sprint points and time bonuses on the line each lap of the circuit. The Chinese rider took the first two sprints in front of me but after the second time through the line he sat up because he was toast. That left me on my own with about 80km still to race. I held on for 60 more km and took more time bonuses and sprint points. At this point Southeast, Kolss-BDC, and Amore e Vita were working to bring me back. The field caught me with about 20km left to go and I finished in the field with same time. Our team worked together and avoided some high speed crashes. In the finale Evan put together another top 10 finish. The time bonuses put me into 3rd place in the general classification after this stage. Tomorrow we have a 143km stage with an 85km climb.

Here is a link to my ride on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/340166001