Italian celebration at the Tour of Magnificent Qinghai where Gabriele Bessega beat Marco Manenti in the sprint in the second stage of the Chinese race. A hard-fought day from start to finish that saw many athletes attacking early on and then a sprint finish from an almost compact group.

THE RACE. After yesterday's heavy rain, the sun finally arrived at the Tour of Magnificent Qinghai where the Huangyuan - Menyuan stage was contested, which at 225 km is one of the longest stages of this edition. A rolling and selective course that put the peloton to the test from the very start, immediately after the start the climb of Beishan Mountain Pass was tackled, 10.5 km to reach the summit at 3400 m altitude.

The first climb of the day made an incredible selection, effectively fragmenting the group, and even the overall leader Alexander Salby had to throw in the towel. On the climb, 6 athletes managed to gain an advantage and quickly accumulated a substantial lead over the group: Cristian Rodriguez (Team XDS Astana), Jon Agirre (Euskaltl Euskadi team), Diego Bracalente (MBH Bank CSB Telecom Fort), Fernando Tercero (Team Polti Visit Malta), Jonathan Klever Caicedo (Wheeltrop Rootr Chengdu Team) and Hernan Ricardo Aguirre (Qinghai Tianyoude Hotel Cycling Team). The breakaway riders quickly found good cooperation and accumulated a maximum advantage of over 4 minutes.

Past the midpoint of the race, amid continuous ups and downs and breathtaking scenery, Cofidis and Burgos got to work controlling the breakaway riders until they completely neutralized it. At 50 km from the finish, Jon Agirre remained alone in the lead only to be caught shortly after. The final kilometers of the race were truly intense with attacks and counterattacks and the group heading at high speed towards the finish in Menyan.

Samuel Fernandez of the Caja Rural Seguros team gave the group no small amount of trouble, which, led by the Bardiani CSF 7 Saber team, caught him in the final kilometer. At that point the sprint was launched and Gabriele Bessega managed to secure his first professional victory while also taking the provisional overall lead. Marco Manenti, meanwhile, who finished in second place, is the new leader of the points classification.

to be updated