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With the teams classification under their belt, and their rider Hossein Askari finishing third in the overall classification, the Iranian team also came away with the mountains classification, best Asian rider and best Asian team.
Tyler Hamilton back in winning form
However, it was Tyler Hamilton, of the American team Rock Racing, who won the seventh edition of the Tour of Qinghai Lake from July 11 – 20. Hamilton took his first stage win since 2004 when he bagged the eighth stage, a mountain top finish that ended a 150.8km route from Xining to Mengyuan. He out-foxed Poland's Marek Rutkiewicz in the final dash to the line – a move which would eventually prove decisive in Hamilton's favour.
Mountains classification
It was from that eighth stage on, that Tabriz Petrochemical rode for the mountains classification with Ahad Kazemi Sarai holding a firm grip on the lead. Ahad Kazemi eventually won the mountains classification to add to Askari's third overall. Askari also took home the victory in the Asian riders' classification, which saw a one-two finish for the team with Ghader Mizbani second in that classification. Tabriz Petrochemical’s win in the teams classification logically put them at the top of the Asian Teams classification.
It is worth noting that Askari and Mizbani were also part of the Giant Asia Racing Team's surprise package that won the overall teams classification in Malaysia's Le Tour de Langkawi in 2006.
Memorable outing for Rasmussen
Denmark's Alex Rasmussen also had a highly memorable outing, taking four of the 10 stage victories on offer, including the final stage, to take the points classification win.
In all, there were 20 teams competing in this edition of the Tour of Qinghai Lake which has firmly established itself as one of the three biggest and most popular races on the UCI Asia Tour calendar, along with Le Tour de Langkawi and the Tour of Qatar.
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