Bouhanni wins second successive stage at Tour of Beijing

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Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ.fr) claimed his second win in as many days and consolidated his overall lead with another emphatic sprint finish on stage 3 of the Tour of Beijing. The Frenchman proved too quick for Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge) and Alexey Tsatevich (Katusha) to take his eleventh victory of the season.

The finale was dominated by the Omega Pharma-QuickStep team. Tony Martin’s attack on the descent of the final climb sewed such panic in the peloton that it split in two, and when the German was reined in with five kilometres to go, Omega Pharma-QuickStep took over the pace-making on the front of the bunch.

Their aim was to set up Alessandro Petacchi for the sprint, and the veteran Italian appeared perfectly-placed as he swung into the finishing straight in second position, tucked in just behind Nikolas Maes.

Petacchi was hesitant in starting his sprint, however, and that delay proved fatal to his chances. With 200 metres to go, the Omega Pharma lead-out was swarmed on both sides, with Elia Viviani (Cannondale) and Borut Bozic (Astana) surging past.

Bouhanni dived for Bozic’s wheel, and the red jersey’s judgement proved impeccable, as he passed the Slovenian on the barriers with 100 metres to go, and then held off the fast-finishing Matthews and Tsatevich to take a fine victory.

In the overall standings, Bouhanni now holds a lead of 11 seconds over Matthews and Maxime Bouet (Ag2r-La Mondiale), while Tsatevich lies in fourth place at 16 seconds. The Frenchman knows his time in the red jersey is limited, however, with the summit finish at Mentougou Miaofeng Mountain – a first for the Tour of Beijing – looming on the horizon.

How it unfolded

After Michael Matthews claimed the opening intermediate sprint at Sheng Shi Ying Village , the morning break was eventually granted permission to slip clear, with Marc Goos (Belkin), Damiano Caruso (Cannondale), Wesley Sulzberger (Orica-GreenEdge), Hayden Roulston (Radioshack-Leopard), Albert Timmer (Argos-Shimano) and Manuele Boaro (Saxo-Tinkoff) getting the bon de sortie from Bouhanni’s FDJ.fr squad.

On an undulating day of racing, the terrain seemed ripe for a breakaway attempt to succeed, but the escapees were never allowed to reach an advantage in excess of 3:30. Although the break worked well together, Caruso and Sulzberger found time to duel for the king of mountains points on the day’s first six climbs, and by day’s end, the Italian would hold a slender two-point lead in the classification.

Behind, the peloton was cranking back into action, however, with Maxime Bouet’s Ag2r-La Mondiale team putting its shoulder to the wheel inside the final 50 kilometres. Their efforts shredded the break’s advantage, and Bouet was clearly hoping that they would be able to shed Bouhanni and the sprinters on the day’s final climb to Huang Tu Liang.

When the six escapees were reeled in with 30 kilometres to go, Adam Hansen (Lotto Belisol) sensed the natural lull that would follow and duly clipped off the front of the peloton, gaining 1:20 in the process. For all his invention, however, Hansen would be caught on the day’s final climb, as the pace again picked up in the main field as Movistar took up the reins.

The anticipated attacks never quite materialised on the final climb, but riders were being shelled out the back as the tempo increased up ahead, and Tony Martin’s daring attack on the descent caused a further split in the peloton.

By the time Martin was pegged back, there were fewer than 60 riders left in contention. While Omega Pharma-QuickStep tried to make use of their numerical superiority in the finale, however, Petacchi was unable to finish off their work, and instead it was Nacer Bouhanni who once again showed his class with a smart sprint win.

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