Philippe Gilbert wins Tour of Beijing stage two to take overall lead

Second stage of 2014 Tour of Beijing shortened due to air quality as Philippe Gilbert takes charge on uphill finish. Photos by Graham Watson

Philippe Gilbert wins stage two of the 2014 Tour of Beijing

Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing) won the second stage of the 2014 Tour of Beijing on Saturday, and took the overall lead in the race.

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
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