Race Round-up: Tour of Qinghai Lake 2022
It's been a year since we've seen any UCI racing in China - that was the Tour of Qinghai Lake 2021. That means it's been a year since any of these riders have competed at this level. Over half of the start-list were racing Qinghai Lake for the first time. There were always going to be surprises in this race due to unpredictable form, the challenging parcours and the lack of strength in the teams.
I put forward my three favourites for the race, based on previous performances. My prediction had mixed results...
Zhishan Zhang won the race in 2021 after being strong on the climbs and making the crucial moves on the flatter stages. He finished second overall this year after finishing second on the mountainous stage four.
Xin Peng had a decent race too, winning stage five in a two-up sprint. This came the day after he fell out of GC contention. Peng in only 22. I think he is one who has potential to do well in the sport after being consistently strong over the last two editions of this race.
Boan Li had a disappointing start to the race falling way off the GC early-on. He rallied to win the final stage in a group sprint.
The race was won by 27 year-old Jiankun Liu. Liu destroyed the field on stage 3, winning by a margin of 4:42 over second place Haoyu Su. That stage had a 35km climb in the middle, peaking at 3435 meters of altitude. (Not even the highest climb in the race - stage 5: 3798 meters). He lost time on stage 4 to Zhang, but still held onto a lead of 2:53. Liu is one of the most experienced riders in the race having competed across Asia after three years with the Mitchelton-Scott Conti team. This was by far his best result though. Hopefully we get more chances to see Liu racing in Asia and even further afield.
Also making it onto the GC podium was Yutao Shen. The 21 year-old also won the challenging stage 4. Amazingly, this is Shen's first ever UCI race. What an achievement. Shen is one to keep an eye on in the future.
Another alumni of the Mitchelton-Scott Continental team is Yikui Niu. He had a great race, cleaning up the bunch sprints on stages one and seven and also finishing on the podium on stages five and six. He took home the points jersey.
Others who impressed over the last week were:
Junjie Wu - Just 19, finished top-10 on every stage and 8th overall.
Haoyu Su - 4th overall, two second places, 21 years old.
Yuheng Li - 5th overall with a podium on stage 4 at just 20 years-old.
Zhanui Yuan - Winner of the mountains jersey
Zisen Liu - Finished top-10 on six stages, 6th overall.
One last thought. This whole race was done at over 2000 meters of elevation, its highest point being 3798 meters. These riders must have incredible fitness to race at this altitude. For me, the most encouraging thing about this race is the amount of young riders. In the GC top-10, there were five under-23s. Four stages were won by four different under-23 riders. There is talent coming through in China, hopefully they will now get some more opportunities to show it.
