Lloyd has yellow jersey; Davis wins fifth stage

XINING, Qinghai Province: Australian rider Allan Davis of Discovery Channel came back from Tuesday's crash to win the rain-struck fifth stage of the Tour of Qinghai Lake yesterday.

Daniel Lloyd from England's DFL team took the yellow jersey after a third place finish, while Stybar Zdenek of Belgium's Fidea Cycling Team (FID) was second.

The stage from Guide to Xining was only 115km but it turned out to be the most grueling so far as rain, wind and cold battered the riders from beginning to end.

"It was so hard and it was cold," said Davis. "Fortunately, my teammates helped me a lot to get over the climb, and I was lucky enough to be there in the front group and we controlled the race in the last kilometer."

Davis failed to keep his yellow jersey on Tuesday after a crash near the finish line cost him over one minute. He said the resulting injury on his right knee was not as bad as expected so he will try to win the next races.

Discovery Channel's Chinese rider Li Fuyu continued his impressive form and sprinted to finish 38th with the front group, expanding his lead to 3 minutes in the race to be crowned Asia's best rider.

China national team rider Ma Haijun was the best Asian in yesterday's stage, finishing 19th.

Today's race sees riders travel 208km from Xining to Minhe, the longest of the nine stages.

(China Daily 07/19/2007 page22)