Argos-Shimano’s Slovenian sprinter Luka Mezgec suffered a series of near misses throughout the year as his big-name rivals pipped him to a number of stage wins.

However, the 25-year-old was not to be denied, benefitting from a superb lead-out to win the final day’s racing of the UCI WorldTour season.

With several teams looking to end the year on a high, the sprint trains gathered within a bunch racing at a phenomenal pace on the final circuit of Beijing’s Bird’s Nest Stadium.

Omega Pharma-Quickstep – for Alessandro Petacchi – showed their hand first but to no avail, while Belkin’s attack also proved to have been too early.

However, Argos-Shimano timed their own assault to perfection – dropping Mezgec onto the wheel of Nacer Bouhanni – already a winner of two stages during the five-day race.

The Slovenian was to deny the Frenchman on this occasion though, powering beyond the Frenchman on the line to record a long overdue victory at the final opportunity.