Tour of Beijing: Tyler Farrar wins stage 3

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Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Sharp) returned to winning ways on stage 3 of the Tour of Beijing from Yanqing to the Qianjiadian Chao Yang Temple. The American timed his sprint to perfection, coming from behind before holding off Luka Mezgec (Giant-Shimano) and Nikolas Maes (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) to win by over a bike length.

The win signalled Farrar’s first bunch sprint triumph in over a year, while overnight race leader Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing Team) retained his five second advantage over Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (Team Giant Shimano) in the battle for the overall.

However it was Farrar who had the biggest smile of all after the 176 kilometre stage, capping fine work from his Garmin-Sharp teammates in the closing stages of the race with an excellent dash for the line.

“It was a long time coming this season. It was a year of seconds and thirds and fourths so to finally win, so close to maybe one of my last chances of the year I’m really happy,” Farrar said at the finish.

Among them was Orica GreenEdge’s Caleb Ewan, who had looked perfectly placed coming into the final kilometre. His team had led the field towards the line but the young Australian found himself on the front too soon after Matthew Hayman and Daryl Impey peeled off and was duly swamped in the closing meters of the stage. The neo-pro still managed to hold on for tenth place and will have another opportunity on the final stage of the race.

Mezgec, who had won the opening stage of the race, had put his Giant-Shimano team to work earlier in the stage after a six man group containing Dayer Quintana (Movistar), Julien Berard (Ag2r-La Mondiale, Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier (FDJ), Julian Alaphilippe (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), Michal Golas (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), and Karsten Kroon (Tinkoff-Saxo) had established a lead of four minutes.

The move sprung BMC Racing into life too with Alaphilippe just eleven seconds down on Gilbert’s overnight lead and with 50 kilometres remaining the deficit was holding out at just over two minutes.

However it was all over for the remnants of the break on the final climb of the stage, a shallow third category ascent with around 15 kilometres remaining.

Adam Hansen (Lotto Belisol) launched an attack on the climb, and turned a huge gear as he opened up a slight lead on the peloton. He looked around to assess if support was forthcoming but only Julian Arredondo (Trek Factory Racing) had attempted to bridge across to him.

The pair were predictably caught on the long descent to the finish but there was still time for Carlos Betancur (Ag2r-La Mondiale) to launch a late attack with just over five kilometres remaining.

The move failed to gain any traction as Team Sky, Belkin, Katusha, Giant-Shimano and Orica GreenEdge looked to assert their control over the front of the peloton.

It looked scrappy, a feature that may well have played into Farrar’s hands, as Orica led the bunch into the final kilometre.

The Australians appeared the most organised with Ewan carefully tucked in as the field rounded the last right hand corner. Farrar, meanwhile, looked too far back and too far out of contention but he made use of the wind conditions, launching his sprint just as the men on the front began to fade.

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