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The final stage of the Tour of Qinghai Lake once again welcomed Denmark’s Alex Rasmussen to the winner podium as he claimed his fourth stage victory. Rasmussen, who wrapped up the points classification with his win, raced towards the finish at over 70 km/h to take the stage ahead of a disappointed Sebastian Siedler (Skil-Shimano) and Emiliano Donadello (Serramenti Diquigiovanni-Androni).
Tyler Hamilton (Rock Racing) finished mid pack to take the overall victory, his first in a Tour since the 2004 Tour of Romandie.
Hamilton was happy to have secured the overall title, even if there was never really were any tense moments during the stage. The American had expected Marek Rutkiewicz (Poland) to try and steal back the 10 seconds he was trailing Hamilton by.
"It is a special win," admitted Hamilton. "It has been a long time. I think that there are a lot of people that didn’t think that I could reach a level like this.
"The goal coming in was to win the race, whether it was myself, Oscar Sevilla or Michael Creed," Hamilton explained. "A victory for a team-mate is a victory for me and I am pretty sure it goes the other way too. It is nice to repay my team-mates, the staff and especially Michael Ball."
Hamilton hopes to continue his progression back to the top of the sport, seeing this win a stepping stone. "There are always bigger and better things, it is like positive dissatisfaction," he said. "I am never 100 percent satisfied."
Oscar Sevilla had been the designated Rock Racing leader before the start of the Tour. A fall in the second stage left him bruised and battered, but the Spaniard maintained his high overall position while Hamilton was sitting just a few seconds back.
In the first mountain stages it became apparent that Sevilla was not going to be allowed any freedom by the other overall contenders. Hamilton set off with Rutkiewicz in the eighth stage with that in mind and took the stage victory and overall lead.
"After he [Sevilla] crashed, he couldn’t get out of the saddle as much as he normally could," said Michael Creed, Hamilton’s team-mate. Tyler was riding really strong and people focused on Sevilla a bit much which left the door open for Tyler."
"It is good to have a rider like Oscar," Fred Rodriguez added. "He is willing to sacrifice himself for his team-mates. He knew he was strong and probably could win, but once Tyler had the jersey, he was able to give everything that he had for him."