Euskadi start off strong in China

Equipo Euskadi have gotten their maiden participation in the Tour of China off to a solid start on the first three days.

Illart Zuazubiskar and Unai Iparraguirre have been the stand-out performers up until now, the former grabbing ninth in Saturday's informal individual time trial (a stage not counting towards the overall) and going close to winning solo on Tuesday's second stage.

The powerful rouleur made his move inside the last two clicks but was reeled in with some 500 metres to go. In the deciding sprint finish, Iparraguirre ended up 12th, improving on his 13th from the day before and resulting in him lying a lofty fourth overall after two of six stages.

A content Aritz Arberas, the team's sports director, offered the following soundbite post-race.

"We've been aggressive and brave", he told the team's website. "Tuesday was a very hard day. 80 kilometres of the stage was covered in 50 km/h".

The race continues on Wednesday with a 151km trek from and to Chengdu Pengzhou.

Photo: Fundación Ciclista Euskadi