July 27, 2005 – The final stage of the Tour de Qinghai Lake would be not much more than a formality for ZVVZ and their race leader Martin Mares. With the Czech squad getting full support from the Polish Intel Action team, the basically flat stage was to be predictably easy to control, and Mares held a comfortable margin over Kazakhstan’s Baigundinov. The stage began with 5 laps of an 8 km circuit in downtown Xining before turning to Huzhu where the largest crowds of the race would be gathered in an incredible display of color, enthusiasm and pageantry. The day’s attendance was easily in excess of 1 million spectators, and the riders could look forward to the energetic fan support to help them through the difficult race’s final stage. The Slavic combine kept a tight leash on the numerous escape attempts for the first three circuits until Marco Polo’s Rhys Pollock attacked solo and built a :20 advantage. The Czech’s slowed the pace and settled into a modest tempo as the Australian built on his lead. Seeing an opportunity, the Barloworld duo of Jeremy Maartens and Sean Sullivan attacked in tandem and quickly rode across to the leader. With all three riders over 50 minutes back on general classification, it was the perfect break to let go. The gap would build to over 7 minutes despite Maartens having some stomach problems and having to stop for an imperative nature call. There was no interest in the field until the days only climb at 100 km.

An attack by Navigators Chris Baldwin busted the ZVVZ/ Action lead train, and sent many riders, including several of the race leader’s support out the back. But Baldwin’s attack could not shake the grasp of the peloton that was eager for a little action, and on the ensuing descent, most of the field was back together. With the climb behind them, the Naturino team now went to the front to try to set up yet another stage victory. With a nearly 8 minute deficit, the Italian squad needed to commit virtually the entire team to the chase, and they pushed with full gas on. The open throttle would not be enough however, and the gap was still over 2.5 minutes with 15km remaining. First Maartens, and then Sullivan attacked Pollock, with Sullivan’s ‘final attack able to stick and the Barloworld rider took the stage by :16 over the very game Pollock. Maartens would later be disqualified for holding onto the team car to make the bridge back to the break after his short stop, and Naturino’s Fischer took the sprint for third at 2:03.

For the Navigators Team, the week ended on a relatively positive note. Despite the huge disappointment of loosing Cesar Grajales to a crash caused by the Shimano motorcycle on the day he was poised to potentially take the yellow jersey, and the misfortune of having Nathan O’Neill and Shawn Milne pull out of the race due to illness. Jeff Louder and Chris Baldwin battled all week and finished an impressive 6th and 11th on general classification, and factored dramatically in every stage.

Stage 9:

1. Sean Sullivan (Barloworld)
2. Rhys Pollock (Marco Polo)
3. Murilo Fischer (Naturino)

GC Final:
1. Mares
2. Baigundinov @1:38
3. Agnoli @4:19