After another strong display in the 125 km long Cyclo Xiwuqi road bike race, Li Pengcheng crowned himself as the new King of the Grasslands on Sunday. The Beijing-based athlete, known for his triathlon and duathlon achievements, won the last stage solo after attacking breakaway companions Kang Weijian and Shi Kuan with about 4km to go. The three had gone clear from a small group just over halfway. Speedy Xiwuqi winner Shi Kuan might have had the best legs of the three, but he cooked them already early on by a strange solo attack that he pursued for a full hour. While the wind was not blowing as much as the last two years, there is never a wind-free Xiwuqi and the fact that we were only getting small groups and solo riders coming into the finish proved as much. In fourth place in the men’s race was South Africa’s Gavin Paul , three-and-a-half minutes behind Li Pengcheng. Gavin Paul himself was a minute ahead of fifth place, Zhang Han – third in Speedy Xiwuqi. Malaysia’s Eric Koh took sixth, first of a quartet of riders. The Xiwuqi MTB Challenge of 81km was won by Li Ran, who outsprinted Huang Yongpeng.
The women’s race was as tight as yesterday and with the same protagonists: Zhang Tingting and Fu Shiqi. However, there was no new royal sprint, as the duo crossed the line side by side and hand in hand, but with Fu Shiqi a wheel in front to take the official victory in the women’s Cyclo Xiwuqi race. In the KOG final standings, she claimed third place. Tang Yu Cong, who concluded her tournament with second place in the Xiwuqi MTB Challenge behind Zhao Haiyan, took the Queen of the Grasslands title ahead of Chen Yixuan. She laid the foundation for het title on Friday in the Sprint Duathlon, which she won. Fu Shiqi did not qualify for the duathlon finals and so lost out on a lot of points that day, which effectively destroyed her chances to win the women’s KOG.
