Ukrainian Bogdan Bondrev of Inter-Action (INT) outsprinted Smith Bryan and Dean Downing to clinch the 208-km sixth stage win in the Tour of Qinghai Lake cycling race yesterday.

Maarten Tjallingii of the Netherlands held the yellow jersey for the Skil-Shimano (SKS) for the third day.

Casarrubi Garcia of Relax-GAM (REG) kept the red jersey for the King of the Mountain and the sprinter's green jersey went to Nacor Burgos.

The GNT's Hossein Askari of Iran, who lost his leading position on general rankings to Tjallingii on Tuesday, finished 37th but his chance for the tour title is still alive as he placed second on the overall standings, only 42 seconds behind. He also kept the blue jersey representing the Best Asian Rider.

"I think it's a very hard stage, and we had good team work. We tried to stay together and keep the pace, so that we could control what we were doing, and we succeeded because I still have the yellow jersey," said Tjallingii.

"But there is no time for me to stop my charge at the race as there's three stages left here and anything is possible."

With about 18 km to go to the finish line at the Xining People's Square, Bondrev burst out of the peloton together with Bryan and Downing.

The peloton, which included yellow jersey-holder Tjallingii and stage favourite Rene Wessinger of SKS, simply couldn't keep up with the race, and finished one minute and 45 seconds behind the group of three.

Tu Rui of China's National Team (CHN) was the best-performing Chinese rider, finishing 19th. He was followed by Li Fuyu of Marco Polo (21) and team-mate Liu Bo (26).

Qinghai rider Ma Haijun, who delighted home fans with a third-place finish yesterday, failed to continue his form and crossed the line in 101st place. Ma ranked 30th in the overall standings, 18 minutes and 54 seconds behind the yellow jersey holder.

(China Daily July 21, 2006)