Tour of Beijing (st. 1)

Enrique Sanz takes 7th at urban, inaugural sprint in Beijing, tackling its first mountains on Wednesday yet far from Men Tou Gou's finish

Enrique Sanz keep closing in on a maiden 2012 victory and gathers now no less than eleven top ten finishes after his 7th place today in the first stage of the Tour of Beijing (UCI WorldTour), over 117 kilometers including a road section from the scenic Tian An Men square and twelve urban laps around Beijing’s Olympic Park. The young Spanish sprinter had to progress from the back of the field, outsprinted by Elia Viviani (LIQ), first leader of the Asian race, after great work from Movistar Team to search for a good position into the final two laps.

The eight riders from the telephone squad ended the day with no troubles and brought the lead in the teams’ classification to the Spanish group at a flat opening stage followed by four notable climbs, a Cat. 1 included, on day two to Men Tou Gou (126km) on Wednesday, a serious burden for the sprinters.