Defending champion Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) soloed to victory on stage two of the Tour of Beijing to move into the overall lead.
The world time trial champion attacked on a descent following the final climb of the day and stayed clear of a seven-man chase group.
Martin now leads the general classification by 50 seconds ahead of Francesco Gavazzi (Astana), with Eros Capecchi (Liquigas-Cannondale) a further two seconds adrift.
The 27-year-old led last year’s Tour of Beijing from start to finish after winning the opening time trial, prompting the organisers to change the course, but treated the closing kilometres of stage two as a race against the clock to move into the leader’s jersey.
“If there is no time trial, you have to do your own one,” joked Martin. “Some guys were expecting a sprint, but my team expected a hard race. The goal was to make a good race and to stay at the front, but I didn’t expect to win. I had a very, very small chance but I took it and I am very happy and proud of this.”
A five-man group of Mathias Frank (BMC Racing), Maxim Belkov (Katusha), José Iván Gutiérrez (Movistar), Juan Manuel Gárate (Rabobank) and David Tanner (SaxoBank-Tinkoff) formed a breakaway early on the 126km stage and gained an advantage of three minutes.
But the quintet was reeled in on the opening climb, where an elite group, which included Giro d’Italia winner Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Barracuda), formed. Martin then made his move close to the summit of the third climb, with 26km left to the finish.
And the German powered away from his rivals on the descent, eventually finishing 46 seconds ahead of the chasing group, with Gavazzi and Capecchi claiming second and third on the stage respectively.
Tour of Beijing stage two – result
1) Tony Martin (GER) – Omega Pharma-Quickstep – 2:53:05 hours
2) Francesco Gavazzi (ITA) – Astana +46″
3) Eros Capecchi (ITA) – Liquigas-Cannondale – same time
4) Rinaldo Nocentini (ITA) – Ag2r La Mondiale
5) Tomasz Marczynski (POL) – Vacansoleil-DCM
6) Daniel Martin (IRL) – Garmin-Sharp
7) Tom Jelte Slagter (NED) – Rabobank
8) Rafal Majka (POL) – SaxoBank-Tinkoff
9) David Tanner (AUS) – SaxoBank-Tinkoff +50″
10) Simon Clarke (AUS) – Orica-GreenEDGE – same time
General classification
1) Tony Martin (GER) – Omega Pharma-QuickStep – 5:30:44 hours
2) Francesco Gavazzi (ITA) – Astana +50″
3) Eros Capecchi (Ita) – Liquigas-Cannondale +52″
4) Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR) – Team Sky +56″
5) Rinaldo Nocentini (ITA) – Ag2r La Mondiale – same time
6) Daniel Martin (IRL) – Garmin-Sharp
7) Tomasz Marczynski (POL) – Vacansoleil-DCM
8) Rafal Majka (POL) – SaxoBank-Tinkoff
9) Tim Wellens (Bel) – Lotto-Belisol +1’00”
10) Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa (POR) – Movistar – same time
