Ilya Davidenok wins the seventh Tour of Fuzhou overall.

18th November, 2018 – Yongtai, Fujian, China: Australia’s Kaden Groves of Mitchelton-BikeExchange claimed Stage 5 of the 7th Tour of Fuzhou in a much anticipated sprint finish. He beat China’s Zhang Zheng who created another surprise for the Hengxiang Cycling Team and Jasper Frahm of the German national team after the peloton caught the 9-man breakaway that included Eritrea’s Yakob Debesay, the rider lying fourth on GC with a deficit of 52 seconds. Kazakhstani Ilya Davidenok of Beijing XDS-Innova is the Tour of Fuzhou’s overall winner in Yongtai, ahead of Benjamin Dyball of St George and Lyu Xianjing, also from the Hengxiang Cycling Team. The latter remains the big sensation of the 2018 edition of the year’s final professional bike race, worldwide.
Stage 5 winner Kaden Groves said: “I was quite disappointed with second on Stage 2. I knew I was coming here with good legs. This Tour of Fuzhou being my last race of the year, I couldn’t have asked for any more than winning the last stage. I got hung up on the bridge in a crash. Once I clipped in, my team-mate Sam Jenner did most of my pacemaking to move back up to the front. Coming out of a technical finish with 1km to go, with the fast downhill, at 350 metres to go, I had good legs so I overtook the Germans. I had a big chain ring on today for the downhill finish. I’m delighted to have made it.”
Overall winner Ilya Davidenok said: “I am very, very happy. This is my second win in my career. My team gave their maximum today to save my jersey. We caught the Eritrean rider number 92 [breakaway rider Yakob Debesay]. For my team, winning the Tour of Fuzhou is the maximum.”
Statistic of the day
With Kaden Groves winning Stage 5, Australia becomes the nation with the second most stage wins at the Tour of Fuzhou. Out of 27 stages contested up to date, Iran leads the tally with 5, Australia has 4 (Stage 1 with Scott Sunderland in 2015, Stage 3 with Groves and Stage 4 with Jai Hindley in 2017 before this one); the Czech Republic following with 3.
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Kononenko and Davidenok deliver for Beijing XDS

Top 3 overall confirmed at Da Yang Town.
17th November, 2018 – Da Yang, Fujian, China: The 2015 Ukrainian national champion Mykhaylo Kononenko of Beijing XDS-Innova claimed Stage 4 of the 7th Tour of Fuzhou after he rode away solo 4km before the unprecedented finish in Da Yang. He escaped from a group of 13 riders formed after a number of attacks in the 10km long false flat uphill leading to the final 10km of the stage. In turn, third placed Lyu Xianjing from Hengxiang Cycling Team and runner up Ben Dyball of St George tried to put the race leader Ilya Davidenok in difficulty but the Kazakhstani – who also rides for Beijing XDS-Innova – managed to hold on to the yellow jersey on the penultimate stage in Yongtai.
Stage 4 winner Mykhaylo Kononenko said: “I’m very happy with this victory. Our priority was to protect the yellow jersey of my companion [Ilya Davidenok] but once that was done, I saw a gap and I went for the stage win. This attack also helped me move from tenth to eighth on GC, so it’s a perfect day.”
Statistic of the day
The 2018 Tour of Fuzhou is the 27th stage race contested in China by Mykhaylo Kononenko since the 2007 Tour of Hainan. He won the Tour of Qinghai Lake overall in 2014 after Ilya Davidenok was disqualified. This is his second victory at the Tour of Fuzhou after Stage 1 in 2017.
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