Fengqing: our new high mountain challenge !

The Queen’s Stage of this year’s Granfondo Yunnan took place in Lincang/Fenqing, a small town nestled between high mountain peaks going up to 2500m above sea level. The stage course measured 156km with 3300 elevation gain. The weather forecast the night before showed a few chances of local rain showers, and that is what happened around noon - but never to the extent that the stage was in jeopardy. Race victory again went to yellow jersey holders Chen Hao and Li Si, confirming their lead in the general classification as well. The men’s mountain race was entirely coloured by Wang Jin, however. He attacked in the first kilometre of Lucky Dragon Mountain at km 24 and rode solo in front for 125 km! But his “Poggy Attack” did not fully succeed as he ran out of steam on the final slopes of the last mountain and got caught by 7 others. In the fast descent to the finish, Chen Hao and Yang Qian Bin opened a small gap and sprinted for victory. Wang Jin still got fifth at least.