HAIYAN, July 20 (Xinhua) -- Benjamin Dyball of Team Sapura Cycling won the individual time trial convincingly in the seventh stage of the Tour of Qinghai Lake.
Peter Koning from Evopro Racing and Colombian rider Vargas of Medellin in finished second and third respectively.
After this stage, Robinson Chalapud from Colombian retains yellow jersey.
Dyball dominated the stage today, with his winning time of 48 minutes and 46 seconds, beating his closest rival by 1 minute 33 seconds. The 42km ride wasn't particularly challenging and the weather conditions were excellent - the only concern was the wide, exposed road and altitude of 3100m. Dyball eased into the stage because of the challenging high altitude of Xihaizhen.
"I've never done a time trial at altitude like this," he explained. "I wasn't quite sure how I'd go, so I took it a bit easier at the start."
Riders were shocked at the time in which Dyball won by, proving that the Australian is in Qinghai to do his best.
"I was hoping to win, but not by quite that much," Dyball admitted. "I gave it everything and it's good to win the stage after Friday."
Friday's result for Dyball and Team Sapura Cycling was disappointing and he admitted that his team is struggling with the altitude. Their focus is on Sunday's 224km race to Qingshizui.
"Tomorrow is the last really hard stage of the tour, so I'd like to try and get on the overall podium," Dyball said, now sitting fourth overall in the points classification.
The 8th stage will race 224 kilometers on Sunday.
