Win for Gavazzi ahead of Martin at Great Wall of China

Astana’s Francesco Gavazzi claims victory in stage three of the Tour of Beijing, Dan Martin is second and Boassan Hagen third.

Milan, Italy, October 11th, 2012 – After notching up his fourth second-place finish of the season yesterday, Astana’s Francesco Gavazzi today finally got the win he has been craving. The Italian rider surged to victory in stage three of the Tour of Beijing – a 162.5 km ride from Men Tou Gou to Badaling Great Wall – which featured the same finale as was used in the 2008 Olympic Games.

The day’s break – which also included Andriy Grivko – was swept up by the peloton with less than a dozen kilometres to the finish. Then the attacks started to come, with first Sylvain Georges (Ag2R) and then Igor Antón (Euskaltel-Euskadi) making breaks for the line. At three kilometres to the finish, as the group was bearing down on Antón, Team Sky’s Edvald Boasson Hagen tried to get the jump on his opponents by setting off in a solo attack.

However, just as the Norwegian seemed to have victory in the bag, the peloton – sprinting, at this point – managed to bring him back. Pushing hard at the head of the bunch was Francesco Gavazzi, who again showed his sprinting pedigree to pass Boasson Hagen and take the victory just ahead of Daniel Martin (Garmin-Sharp) and the Team Sky rider, who held on for third.

Gavazzi gave us his reaction straight after the race: “I am delighted with the victory, which I have been chasing for the whole of this year. I have had lots of placings this season, partly due to bad luck and partly because I found myself up against riders who were stronger than me. I was desperate to end the season well, this is my first year at Astana and I wanted to repay the faith of this team, which has always believed in me.

“There are still two stages to go until the end of the Tour of Beijing and I am in second place – 40” down on Tony Martin – with the hardest stages behind us. Now I have got to defend second place and try to make life difficult for the leader of the general classification.”

Team directeur sportif Dmitri Sedoun said: “We had high hopes for this victory and we have done it! We were focused on Francesco, who is the most in-form man in our team right now, and he showed real composure to get the better of some very strong opponents.

“The work that Grivko did was really useful,” Sedoun went on. “He got in the right breakaway, meaning the rest of the team could relax and leave the job of bringing it back to the Omega-Pharma squad led by Tony Martin.”

Race leader Tony Martin said afterwards “I knew it was going to be a difficult day and I’d lose some time,” Martin said. “I only lost ten seconds, which is a bonus. I feel I am in a stronger position to retain the leader’s jersey to the finish after today’s stage than I was yesterday. I had great support from my team since the numerous attacks from the start.”

Boasson Hagen, who reconnoitred the course before the race said: “I was full gas, thinking to try to gap off and get as much seconds as possible. If Martin hadn’t gained time yesterday, then maybe I could have waited for the sprint.”

Norway’s all-rounder was caught within sight of the line and battled the final few meters to finish third in the stage. He took six seconds in time bonuses and is now fourth on the general classification, 52 seconds behind Tony Martin.

Ireland’s Dan Martin (Garmin-Sharp) was first from the peloton to catch Boasson Hagen but he crossed the line second, passed by Gavazzi.

Result
1 GAVAZZI Francesco AST ITA B:10″ 00″
2 MARTIN Daniel GRS IRL B:06″ ‘ ‘
3 HAGEN Edvald Boasson SKY NOR B:04″ ‘ ‘
4 NOCENTINI Rinaldo ALM ITA ‘ ‘
5 COSTA Rui Alberto MOV POR ‘ ‘
6 SLAGTER Tom Jelte RAB NED ‘ ‘
7 CAPECCHI Eros LIQ ITA ‘ ‘
8 MOSER Moreno LIQ ITA ‘ ‘
9 FRANK Mathias BMC SUI ‘ ‘
10 PIETROPOLLI Daniele LAM ITA ‘ ‘
11 CLARKE Simon OGE AUS