MENYUAN, China, July 21 (Xinhua) -- Dutchman Alex Molenaar of Monkey Town took the eighth stage of the Tour of Qinghai Lake with a spectacular individual performance in a time of 5.07:37 on Sunday.
In second place was Braislau Samoilau (Minsk Cycling Club) in 5:09:15, while Ricardo Aguirre (Interpro Cycling Academy) placed third. Robinson Chalapud (Medellin) finished in fourth position, keeping his overall lead in the general classification. Eduard Grosu (Delko Marseille Provence) finished fifth.
The longest stage in the Tour of Qinghai Lake saw riders depart from Xihaizhen and arrive in Qingshizui after 224km. Freezing rain and cold temperatures were present throughout the day.
A few kilometres after the start, nine men broke away from the group: Evaldas Siskevicius and Jeremy Leveau (Delko Marseille Provence), Massimo Rosa (Neri Selle Italia KTM), Luke Mudgway and Daire Feeley (Evopro Racing), Alex Molenaar, Adrian Banaszek (Volster Atalanta Team), Samuel Volkers (Memil Pro Cycling) and Andriy Kulyk (Shenzen Xidesheng Cycling Team).
The breakaway managed a distance of almost three minutes from the peloton. In the group, Medellin controlled a strong, steady pace. On the long climb to the mountain, the breakaway crumbled, leaving only three cyclists. Shortly after, Molenaar rode alone. On the descent, Samoilau tried desperately to close the gap, though Aguirre and Chalapud did not let him escape. Molenaar defended the gap and reached the finish line all alone.
"It was mentally very hard," Molenaar said, describing the difficult climb and keeping a distance from such intense pressure behind him. "The only thing I did was to keep pushing."
He claimed the weather was very cold in the rain, but being in the breakaway kept him warm. The high altitude climb to 3,747m was also tough for the Dutch rider, who lives below sea level in the Netherlands.
"The first week was very hard for me because of the altitude. Now I can handle it and you can see it was a good day for me."
Chalapud still leads the overall race and was proud to maintain that position.
"I'm happy because today it was important to do well," the Colombian said. "Tomorrow I will give my best because the stage will be difficult, but I also trust my team."
The 9th stage on Monday will span 160 kilometers from Qinghai to Gansu Province.
