Tour of Qinghai Lake Stage 7

Stage 7 of the Tour of Qinghai Lake was a tough one. It was 190 km long and we started out with a big climb. We put Kyle into the breakaway, so he was able to crest the climb ahead of Thomas. Mattieu and Michael crested the climb with Thomas and worked to get him back into the front group. I crested the climb 30 seconds behind them. At the top of the climb we were at 3500 meters, and we descended a little bit but climbed mountains and were never below 9000 feet for a lot of the stage. On the next climb I saw that Mike and Mattieu were about 2 minutes ahead of me, so I gave up the idea of catching them again. I rolled with a group that was always going pretty hard. The views were spectacular today. My group joined up with a group that included Nick and Mattieu with about 70km to go. Eventually with about 50km to go we started descending for almost the rest of the stage. The descent was very pretty. There was a river and there were rocks on all sides of us. Eventually the rocks turned to red rocks, and it was just unbelievable. China is a really beautiful place. Thomas rolled into the finish in the main bunch. A Lampre rider stayed away solo for the stage win. A super tough day is in the books. Tomorrow we have a 126km stage with less climbing than today, and we only top out at about 2400 meters instead of 3500 meters.

Here is a link to my ride on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/343518782

Tour of Qinghai Lake Stage 6

Stage 6 of the Tour of Qinghai Lake was a 138 km stage where we once again climbed to over 12,000 feet in elevation. The plan was to have me go into the breakaway, and Matt helped get me into a move with a couple other guys. Then I went back into the field to recover and Thomas launched an attack that was the break of the day. This made the day easy for us in the field. We rode together and protected each other in case any splits happened in crosswinds, but that never happened. We got Kyle into position going into the climb, and he made it over in the main group. Thomas was still off the front. He almost won the stage, but was caught by Kyle’s group with 25 meters to go. So close to victory… The rest of us finished safely and are ready for tomorrow’s 190 km stage with a bunch of climbing.

Here is a link to my ride on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/342848479

Tour of Qinghai Lake Stage 5

Stage 5 of the Tour of Qinghai Lake was a tough 133km stage that wrapped around Qinghai Lake, had a steep 6km climb coming about 80 km into the stage and descending from the top of the climb to the finish. The plan was to get two riders into the break to have people help Thomas on the climb and have the other riders protect Thomas and keep him out of the wind. From the start me, Kyle, Mattieu, and Olheiser went into moves. The pace was really fast with tailwinds, and Kolss was controlling the group super well. Finally Mattieu got into a move with two other guys. After this we helped keep Thomas out of the wind, and eventually a split happened in a crosswind. I was with Thomas when the split happened, but I tapped my brakes and that put me out of it. Luckily we had Mattieu up the road, and Kyle and Evan made the split with Thomas. After this point I stayed out of the wind in the second group while teams that missed out hammered. Up front Kyle and Thomas rode the climb in the yellow jersey group. Thomas finished the stage 2 minutes and 50 seconds back and is now 8th in GC. Tomorrow is a similar 138 km stage with a cat 1 climb, but we do not start next to Qinghai Lake, so crosswinds should be less and the climb is smaller than today. Also after tomorrow’s stage we will only be at 2200 meters. That should feel like sea level compared to the 2800 meters we are staying at now.

Here is a link to my ride on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/342216306