Ludewig steers clear of chaos in stage four

GUIDE, Qinghai Province: Germany's Wiesenhoffelt Team (WIE) rider Jorg Ludewig emerged as a surprise winner of the 4th stage of the Tour of Qinghai Lake yesterday. Leader Allan Davis of Discovery Channel Team was one of the casualties of a string of crashes and surrendered his yellow jersey to Missaglia Gabriele of Venezuela's Selle Italia Team (CLM).

The 172km 4th stage from Xihaizhen to Guide boasts a race-high attitude of 3880 meters and some sharp climbs and bends. Conditions were made even worse by rain early yesterday morning and again during a downhill section of the race.

Davis and his Chinese teammate Li Fufu kept in contention for a sprint with the front group before getting involved in a crash minutes from the finishing line.

"We saw the first group and we were catching up when the crash happened. Allan fell, and we had to fix his bicycle and wait for him. We lost over one minute in the accident. It was a pity," said Li, who still managed to hold onto the blue jersey for Asia's best rider.

"It was a difficult race for the team. It was raining heavily when we rode down the mountains. The road was slippery, especially around the bends. We would have had the chance to catch up but for a number of crashes down the mountains."

A dismayed Davis said he did his best but could not control everything. "We tried to attack but something happened. I did my best today, I couldn't do any better. I was trying to get back to the group but there was no time."

Ludewig took advantage of the chaos, making a successful sprint in the last few meters.

"I always kept my own speed. My luck today was we have very good tires and bad luck for the others - there were lots of crashes.

"Step by step at the end of the road I was at the end of first group, but there were more than three riders from each team. So I decided I would do it myself. In the past stages I saved my legs a little bit, so today I was able to take my chance. Yes, I was very lucky.

"The problem here is in the altitude. I have no pain in my legs but I could not breathe. There were 15 riders in the front and I was feeling like a dog in the middle of the race. At almost 4,000 meters, there is even less (oxygen). So I decided to try to maintain my rhythm. I said 'this bend and next bend', I saw a rider and I told myself to catch him. And I caught him and I said 'next one'."

(China Daily 07/18/2007 page22)