China’s Hou Dongyi proved he is the strongest road cyclist in this year’s Xiwuqi event, winning Sunday’s 125km long race going solo out of a five-men breakaway with 20km still to go to the finish. The others saw him attack and did not have the legs to respond. The gap even went up to almost three minutes. His teammate Kong Wensheng again outsprinted the others for second place. Mongolia’s Myagmardorj Bayasgalan ended up fourth, while 2024 winner Enkhbaatar Saikhanbileg suffered a mechanical problem in the last 15km to see his chances for a new podium spot go up in smoke.
The women’s 125km race was dominated by Yu Tianqi, who finished in 3h26, almost 8 minutes ahead of Zhang Qian and Zhang Bei.
The men’s MTB 81km race developed into a dual between Zhang Wei Yi and Russia’s Evgenii Vitmanovskii. Just like on Saturday, the Chinese rider had the edge over the experienced Russian and outgunned him in the final kilometres.
In the women’s 81km MTB, Xie Cuifeng was clearly the fastest in 3h02. Eleven minutes later, Lv Fangfang finished in second.
