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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16th November, 2018 – Liang Jiang, Fujian, China: Dutchman Ivar Slik of the Monkey Town team was the third rider to claim his maiden pro victory in three days of racing at the 2018 Tour of Fuzhou, following the examples set by Chinese sensation Lyu Xianjing and Germany’s Leon Rohde. He gave it all for the stage win along with his two breakaway companions Ilya Davidenok of Beijing XDS-Innova and Ben Dyball of St-George who moved up to first and second places, respectively, on GC. Lyu bravely defended his overall lead in a rain soaked day in Liang Jiang but missed out on bringing the main group across by 15 seconds in the thrilling finale of a short but demanding stage.

Stage 3 winner Ivar Slik said: “I’m very happy to get a pro win here. I looked at the stage profiles before the Tour of Fuzhou and I thought this Friday’s stage was my chance. It was a hilly one but not too hilly. I took it a little bit easy yesterday and the day before to be able to go full gas today.
“I felt really good in the first climb. I reached the top in the first ten riders I think. In the descent, I got a gap with two strong competitors. We decided to ride full gas to the finish and see how far we’d come. We rode strongly on the flat with one minute lead at the bottom of the last climb. One guy [Ben Dyball] from the peloton came across and the third guy [Stanislau Bazhkou] of the early breakaway dropped, so we were three again. I was up there with two GC riders and I was not up on GC anymore so my goal was the stage win, and they did a good job for the GC. I could easily take the win in the sprint.”
Statistic of the day
Ivar Slik is the first Dutchman to win a stage at the Tour of Fuzhou. His compatriots Jasper Ockeloen and Peter Schulting, also riding for Monkey Town – previously known as Parkhotel Valkenburg – achieved the final podium in 2015 and 2016 respectively.
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German team pursuit specialist beats Australian sprinters in Qinjiang Manchu Village.

15th November, 2018 – Qinjiang Manchu Village, Fujian, China: Leon Rohde, 23, who is part of the German national team mostly for track meets, imposed himself for the first time in an international road race. His victory comes the day after the win for 20-year-old Chinese mountain biker Lyu Xianjing took his maiden road race victory on a hilltop finish. Today Rohde outsprinted Stage 2 favourite Kaden Groves of Mitchelton-BikeExchange in Qinjiang Manchu Village while the other Australian young gun, Toby Orchard (Australian Cycling Academy), went down. Lyu retained the overall lead after Hengxiang Cycling Team controlled the race all the way on the shores of the South China Sea.

Stage 2 winner Leon Rohde said: “It’s perfect for me. I had a hard season. I changed team and now I prepare mostly for track cycling. I’m at the peak of my shape now in the middle of the track season. I’m super fit and my team-mates are too. I got a very strong lead out. Because the roads were wide and the wind not too strong, we decided to wait as long as we could. A train of five guys was set in front of me with 2.5km to go. It worked well. We were so explosive that nobody could hold our wheels. At 200m to go, it was my time to open my sprint. I saw somebody coming on my right side but I got it just.”
Statistic of the day
Leon Rohde is the first German to cross the finishing line in first place on a stage at the Tour of Fuzhou since its inception in 2012. His compatriot Tino Thömel was eventually awarded the victory on Stage 3 in 2015 after the disqualification of Italy’s Mattia Gavazzi.
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20-year-old Chinese mountain biker-turned-road-racer leads Tour of Fuzhou.

14th November, 2018 – Ku Liang, Fuzhou, China: Following his impressive fifth place overall in the Tour of Hainan, Lyu Xianjing of the Hengxiang Cycling Team – directed by China’s first ever WorldTour rider, Li Fuyu – took the first road race stage victory of his career. Lyu Xianjing outsprinted Kazakhstan’s Ilya Davidenok, Hanibal Tesfay of the Eritrean national team and Australia’s Ben Dyball atop the 10km long climb to Kuliang on Stage 1 of the 2018 Tour of Fuzhou. This is only the second international road race for the 20-year-old cross-country mountain bike specialist from the Yunnan province. He leads the Tour of Fuzhou by four seconds with four stages remaining.

After the finish, stage winner Lyu Xianjing said: “I’m very happy to win here today. My hard training and the experience I gained in my previous road race [the Tour of Hainan] have paid off. I had climbed to Kuliang before so I was confident in doing something good in this stage but I had no idea about the strength of my opponents. It was hard to evaluate the attacks of the other riders. I’m still new in the game. But today’s performance doesn’t mean I’ve reached the maximum of my capacities yet. I will continue to try and do my best in the next four stages.”

Statistic of the day
In seven editions and 23 stages of the Tour of Fuzhou contested so far, Lyu Xianjing is the second Chinese stage winner after Zhao Jingbiao, also from the Hengxiang team, who claimed Stage 3 to Jinzhou in 2016. Hong Kong’s Choi Ki Ho won the first edition overall and Stage 2 in 2012.
Statistic of the day
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