Marco Haller marked his first victory of the season during the Tour of Beijing, stage 3
Tour of Beijing might be the last World Tour race of the season, but the Chinese event has definitely brought first season victories for several cyclists.
It was Francesco Gavazzi of Team Astana who registered his first victory of the 2012 season during the stage 3 of the race before and this time it is Marco Haller of Team Katusha who out-sprinted the race favourites to register his debut victory of the current season.
“I didn’t expect to win against guys like Petacchi, Viviani and Edvald Boasson Hagen, but I wasn’t afraid of them either,” Haller said after winning the stage 3 of the race.
“It was a very chaotic final kilometre, but I had some strong guys around me who managed to move me up in the finishing straight,” he continued.
“Petacchi started his sprint early and I just came onto his wheel and when I was there, I had no big troubles to pass him. It was a great feeling to cross the line in front”.
The Austrian took a total time of 3 hours, 35 minutes and 39 seconds to claim a significant victory for his team.
He overcame Alessandro Petacchi of Team Lampre-ISD during the 165.5 kilometre chase to Chang Ping Stadium on October 12th, 2012.
“I was feeling good, so I went from 300 metres, but that was too early. Maybe I wanted the win too much” Petacchi noted after the race.
Edvald Boasson Hagen of Team Sky Procycling, Rinaldo Nocentini of Team AG2R La Mondiale and Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa of Team Movistar claimed the third, fourth and the fifth positions in the respective order.
Tony Martin of Team Omega Pharma-Quick Step finished the race at the 46th position and continuous his overall lead after the stage 4 classifications.
Francesco Gavazzi of Team Astana Pro is 20 seconds behind at the second position with Daniel Martin of Team Garmin-Sharp, Edvald Boasson Hagen of Team Sky Procycling and Eros Capecchi of Team Liquigas-Cannondale holding the next four positions.
Team Liquigas-Cannondale is leading the stage 4 team’s classifications with Team Astana pro, Team Euskaltel-Euskadi, Team Movistar and Team RadioShack-Nissan occupying the second, third, fourth and fifth positions in the respective order.
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