Going into the final stage just one second out of a podium finish, Kiel Reijnen won two intermediate sprints Sunday to finish third overall at the Tour of Qinghai Lake in China.
Hossein Askari of Tabrz Petrochemical won the yellow jersey with Radoslav Rogina of Loborika in second.
On the first sprint, three laps into the 66-km stage, Jelly Belly riders Bernard van Ulden and Sean Mazich led out Reijnen. Mazich ran second and Reijnen won, giving him a two-second advantage over Mitja Mahoric of Slovenia, who started the day in third place.
“I got on the radios with the guys and said, ‘let’s seal this up and go for the next sprint,’” said team director Danny Van Haute. “And the boys helped Kiel win the next sprint.”
That gave Reijnen a four-second margin – good for third place in the final standings.
“I’m very pleased with the performance of Kiel and the Jelly Belly p/b Kenda riders,” Van Haute said. “They did an outstanding job. It wasn’t easy.”
[Photo courtesy cyclingnewsasia.com]
