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
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