The tour continued today in Qinling Tianzhushan Scenic Area in Shanyang.
Compared to the flattish race yesterday, the terrain was quite different with a steep mountainous scenic area with lots of stairs. The courses went up and down and you really needed strength in the legs to be fast until the end. Besides the WRE, there were around 500 local runners taking part in other classes.
In today’s WRE sprint, the wins and the biggest prize money went to Czech runners as Jana Peterova and Tomas Krivda outperformed all the others. Jana climbed one position from yesterday and Tomas took his second win on the row.
Peterova was in a class of her own today, as the second fastest woman Lone Brochmann (NOR) was almost a minute behind. Emma Bjessmo (SWE) took another third place six seconds behind Brochmann.
Yannick Michiels (BEL) was second and Jonas Hubacek (CZE) third in the men’s class, so it was the same top three as yesterday. Michiels was still a bit in front of Krivda before the final big climbing legs, but Krivda was able to turn it around with a strong finish.
“It has been a good start for the tour. Really exiting locations for the races, yesterday in the old village and today under the mountain. I was really excited to come back here after the last year’s tour. I’ve managed to do quite well in both races by avoiding big mistakes, staying flexible, and running fluently throughout the races. I am happy to be able to keep my opponents behind me and exited for the two more upcoming races.”, said Tomas Krivda, who has started the tour with two victories.
“Fight the hills, fight the stairs, and also fight down the stairs. In my case that was the recipe for success today”, said women’s winner Jana Peterova, and continued that “I had a pretty clean race today – physically I didn’t feel very good, but I think everyone suffered today with jet lag and the tough course. Nice physical course and nice environment under the misty mountain.”
RESULTS
MAPS
The tour will continue next Saturday in Beijing. Stay tuned.