In another stage under hot temperatures, Hu Hao proved his class to the entire MTB field as he forgot the unfortunate puncture of yesterday and outpaced his three Mongolian companions to win solo at Yurt City after 43km. Myagmarsuren finished fourth and keeps the lead in the overall ranking, but several challengers remain in striking distance.
Six riders set the pace on Nadamu Hill after 6km. Mechanicals reduced the leading group to four at km 32, and Nanjing’s Hu Hao, riding for Specialized, clearly had the upper hand in the flat final 10km to the popular tourist site inside the grasslands. He finished with an advantage of 15 seconds over Gantumur Batorskikh, who is now also second in the overall around a minute down on Myagmarsuren. The latter did not have the speed at the end and came in fourth. Luckily for him, his sprint rival yesterday – Mendbayar Ulambayar – lost time today and came in 10th. Fraser Young did not feel fully recovered from yesterday but together with Daniel Carruthers, again fifth today, still has an outside chance to win the Genghis Khan MTB Adventure tomorrow in the third and 96km long marathon stage.
Wang Xueli took her second stage win in the women’s, ahead of Belgium’s Veerle Bruytaert.
More coming soon
Hu Hao grabbed a great stage victory