The Subway - Avanti Pro Cycling team performed well in heavy rain and cool temperatures on stage five of the Tour de Qinghai Lake in China.

“The conditions were miserable but the boys all fronted well and had a really solid day,” Team Manager in China Graeme Miller said.

“All the Subway – Avanti riders seem to be finding their altitude legs at a race which is much harder than any of us expected.”

Miller said there were many “glum faces” on the start line and that the race started at the “usual fast pace, even in the wet, cold and windy conditions”

“With the stage being 120 kilometres and mainly flat, the wind was always going to be the enemy, all be it light compared to New Zealand standards. Every time the road twisted to meet the side wind the rubber band stretched and broke on some riders,” he said.

The King of the Mountain climb with 25 kilometres to go split the field into three groups with all the Subway - Avanti riders making the split. With 15 kilometres to go the field was coming back together when a crash at the front of the peloton resulted in it splitting into two again.

The Subway – Avanti riders missed the front group of 28 which contested the sprint finish.

James Williamson continued his improvement as he adjusts to racing at extreme altitude, finishing highest in the team crossing the line in 42nd place, 53 seconds behind Yuriy Metlushenko’s (Amore & Vita-Conad) winning time of two hours, 52 seconds.


Team mates Ian Smallman, Eric Drower, Joe Cooper came in 12 seconds behind Williamson with Sam Horgan following eight seconds behind the trio.

Radoslav Rogina (Loborika) still leads the tour after finishing comfortably in the peloton. He has a 41 second lead over American Kiel Reijnen (Jelly Belly) with a further three seconds back to Irishman David McCann (Giant Asia Racing Team).

The tour continues tomorrow leaving Bird Island for Xihaizhen, a place where China first tested the atomic bomb. It could again be a stage for the sprinters.

Ends

The Subway – Avanti Pro Cycling Team is New Zealand’s only UCI Continental team receiving UCI status in early 2009.
Check out Subways online TV at http://www.youtube.com/user/SubwayAvanti  

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For more information please contact:

Hayden Godfrey
021 464482
www.subwaycycling.co.nz


John McKenzie
enthuse ltd
021 384 730
03 384 7338