The name of Carlos Garcia is certainly, so far, the most surprising among those who have scored in this edition of the Tour of Magnificent Qinghai. The 21-year-old Mexican from Petrolike had never won a race as a professional and had not even achieved a top ten at this level, but nonetheless today in Gangcha he managed to break away in the very last breath, winning in front of Henok Mulubrhan and Guillermo Silva.

The euphoria for what he accomplished, evidenced by the full and enthusiastic smile that the native of San Pedro continued to show after learning of today's result, revealed how much he and the team wanted to do well in the Chinese race and, after months of waiting, bring home a significant success, impressions later confirmed by the person himself to our microphones before the awards ceremony.

"I was eagerly awaiting this race because I wasn't happy with how my Giro Next Gen went, a race in which I finished quite tired" Garcia revealed to us in Italian.

"With this success, morale definitely rises, both mine and the team's. For them, this victory is really important considering their aspiration to become a ProTeam next year: I believe today's result can help a lot in this sense. So I dedicate this first place to them and my family," the young Mexican continued before telling us how the stage developed today.

"This morning, initially, the plan was to work for Caicedo's general classification, but when we saw that we couldn't make a difference, and since I was feeling great and we were in a small group, the team encouraged me to play for the final sprint, and well, I'm extremely happy with the result that came out," said the 2003 Petrolike rider, ready to split his efforts in the next stages.

"In the next few days, we hope to have new opportunities to launch into sprints and then, certainly, we'll try to bring home the general classification with Caicedo."

Garcia, even after today's triumph, does not seem intent on curbing his ambition and, on the contrary, will go hunting for a possible repeat, using a weapon that not many of his rivals can deploy in China, namely an easy adaptation to altitude.

"At home, I live at 2000 meters above sea level, and it doesn't take much for me to adapt. Here the altitude bothered me a bit only in the first few days, then I had no problems," he confided to us, appearing quite aware of how today's coup could turn his career.

"Yes, I believe that from today, with this victory, my career can change and a new page can open. My dream? To win the green jersey at the Tour de France and also manage to win stages in both the Grande Boucle and the Giro d'Italia."

In the Giro d'Italia this year, the Petrolike rider applauded and supported someone who, for him, is not just a compatriot but, first and foremost, a friend and training partner, namely Isaac Del Toro.

"With Isaac, there's a beautiful friendship. We spent four years together at the A.R. Monex Pro Cycling Team, then he went to UAE Team Emirates and I to Petrolike," the winner of the fourth stage of the 2023 Friuli Venezia Giulia Regional Tour told us.

"Before coming here, I was a guest in his apartment in San Marino, and we trained together for two weeks. Personally, I'm extremely happy for what he managed to do at the Giro and for what he gave to all of Mexico and Mexicans," Garcia concluded happily before heading to the stage to receive the well-deserved round of applause intended for him.