Menyuan, China — Rock Racing’s Tyler Hamilton won his first race in nearly four years Friday while grabbing the overall lead at the Tour of Qinghai Lake with only two stages of the race in China remaining.
Hamilton easily out-sprinted Mark Rutkiewicz (Polish National Team) at the end of Stage 8 as the pair finished more than a minute ahead of a decimated field that included previous race leader Hossein Askari (Tabriz Petrochemical Team).
Rock Racing Team Owner Michael Ball said Hamilton’s accomplishments complete a comeback that included the Marblehead, Mass., native having to rehabilitate a broken right wrist a month ago.
“No one believed in Tyler and I practically had to coax him out of retirement to ride for us this year,” Ball said. “Now he’s back and showing the form that won him the gold medal at the Olympic Games four years ago in Athens. It’s a tremendous story of how to make the most out of second chances.”
When Rutkiewicz attacked on the descent after the day’s only major climb on the 93-mile (150 km) race from Xining to Menyuan, Askari and teammate Ghader Mizbani were slow to react and Hamilton was the only one able to follow. The leading pair bombed down the 20-mile descent to put 1:13 on Askari and 1:17 into previous second-place David McCann (Giant Asia Racing) while Rutkiewicz climbed from fifth to second. He is 10 seconds behind Hamilton.
“You have to be realistic here – those two Iranian guys (Askari and Mizbani) are unbelievable, probably the strongest climbers in the race, so you have to take your opportunities,” Hamilton said. “You can do you best on the climbs, but I’d be kidding myself if I thought I could ride away from those guys on the hill.”
Hamilton climbed from fourth to first after scoring his first victory in UCI competition since Sept. 11, 2004 (a win in the Stage 8 individual time trial at the Vuelta a España) and his first in a road race since July 23, 2003, when he soloed into Bayonne on Stage 16 of the Tour de France.
Hamilton’s victory in the Vuelta a España was later taken away and the Boulder, Colo., resident sat out a two-year suspension, accused of using homologous blood transfusing. During that time, he won the prestigious (and non-sanctioned) Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hill Climb in New Hampshire in 2005 and 2006.
Teamwork has played an integral role in Hamilton’s ascent into the yellow race leader’s jersey. In Wednesday’s stage, Hamliton suffered two mishaps – a flat tire and a broken spoke – before the main climb. Rock Racing’s Kayle Leogrande and Doug Ollerenshaw each gave up their wheels and Fred Rodriguez and Sergio Hernandez dropped back to help Hamilton regain his position in the pack. Unfortunately, the efforts by Rodriguez and Leogrande proved to be too much and the pair had to withdraw from the race.
That leaves the team with only Sevilla, Ollerenshaw, Hernandez and Michael Creed to help Hamilton in the final two stages.
“With only four of us to defend, it won’t be easy, but we will give it our best shot,” Ollerenshaw said. “I’m pretty confident we can pull it off.”
Saturday’s 104-mile (168 km) race is the last of three major mountain stages in the 10-day, 841-mile (1,354 km) race with a profile that resembles Friday’s stage. It begins in Menyuan and includes a 16-mile climb that takes the riders from 7,709 feet to the summit at 11,312 feet. A 20-mile descent to the finish in Huzhu follows.
Sunday’s final stage is a 110 km circuit race in the city of Xining.
Photos: Copyright Tour of Qinghai Lake/Mark Gunter (www.pbase.com/gunterphotograph)
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