Rasmussen wants more Qinghai wins

By Paul Verkuylen in Xihaizhen, China

Denmark's Alex Rasmussen (Denmark) is hoping to take two more Tour of Qinghai Lake stage wins before the Chinese race ends on Sunday. Rasmussen has been seemingly invincible in this year's edition, having taken three of the opening four stages.

Rasmussen took the Stage 4 into Xihaizhen yesterday after some bad luck saw him miss out on contesting the Stage 3 sprint finish. An untimely flat tyre saw the Dane chase the leading group until the end on the wind-swept stage to Bird Island.

"I think I could have won the stage and kept the yellow jersey for another day," Rasmussen reflected. "This was definitely payback from yesterday, I was really turned on to win," he said of his stage four victory.

Tomorrow the race begins to climb, which will not suit the powerful track endurance rider. Before the race heads upwards, Rasmussen plans to take some points in the green jersey competition he is currently leading.

"Tomorrow's stage there is two bonus sprints that I want to go for but then I will take it easy for the mountains," he said. "I want to win the last and maybe the long stage, but so far it has gone perfectly with three stage victories, it's already a success."

After the Chinese tour, Rasmussen and his Danish national team will return to Denmark for final preparations before returning to Beijing for August's Olympic Games. After finishing second behind England in the teams pursuit at the UCI Track World Championships in Manchester, England, the Danes hope to go one better at the Olympics.