Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (Giant-Shimano) placed second in the sprint, with Rui Costa (Lampre) in third on a day where the overall contenders showed their hand on the uphill kick to Yan Jia Ping.
Irish hope and recent Tour of Lombardy winner Daniel Martin (Garmin-Sharp) finished fifth. Britain's Simon Yates (Orica-GreenEdge) put in a solid ride to finish 19th, and now lies in 16th place overall.
Overnight leader and stage one winner Luka Mezgec (Giant-Shimano) could not stay with the front group and handed the leader's jersey to Gilbert.
Organisers, in conjunction with teams and riders, had decided to shorten the stage due to poor air quality, and the riders tackled just 111km of the original 148km route.
Result Tour of Beijing 2014, stage two: Chong Li to Yan Jia Ping, 111km 1. Philippe Gilbert (Bel) BMC Racing
2. Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Giant-Shimano
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3. Rui Costa (Por) Lampre-Merida
4. Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Katusha
5. Daniel Martin (Irl) Garmin-Sharp
6. Pieter Serry (Bel) Omega Pharma-QuickStep
7. Jesus Herrada (Spa) Movistar
8. Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-GreenEdge
9. Daryl Impey (RSA) Orica-GreenEdge
10. Paul Martens (Ger) Belkin all same time
Overall classification after stage two 1. Philippe Gilbert (Bel) BMC Racing
2. Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Giant-Shimano 0:00:05
3. Rui Costa (Por) Lampre-Merida at 7 secs
4. Jesus Herrada (Spa) Movistar at 11 secs
5. Pieter Serry (Bel) Omega Pharma-QuickStep
6. Mikael Cherel (Fra) Ag2r
7. Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Katusha
8. Rigoberto Uran (Col) Omega Pharma-QuickStep
9. Warren Barguil (Fra) Giant-Shimano
10. Julian Arredondo (Col) Trek Factory Racing
Silvetsre leads an escape on stage two of the 2014 Tour of Beijing
(Image credit: Graham Watson)
Sam Bewley chases on stage two of the 2014 Tour of Beijing
(Image credit: Graham Watson)
The peloton on stage two of the 2014 Tour of Beijing
(Image credit: Graham Watson)
Philippe Gilbert wins stage two of the 2014 Tour of Beijing
Nigel Wynn worked as associate editor on CyclingWeekly.com, he worked almost single-handedly on the Cycling Weekly website in its early days. His passion for cycling, his writing and his creativity, as well as his hard work and dedication, were the original driving force behind the website’s success. Without him, CyclingWeekly.com would certainly not exist on the size and scale that it enjoys today. Nigel sadly passed away, following a brave battle with a cancer-related illness, in 2018. He was a highly valued colleague, and more importantly, an exceptional person to work with - his presence is sorely missed.
