Jeffry Louder, David Mckenzie and Viktar Rapinski made it a celebrating day for the Navigator Cycling Team from the United States Sunday in Xihai town at the second stage of the third Tour de Qinghai Lake International Cycling Race over 182km from Xining to here, while the top Chinese rider Wang Guozhang was the only one to break in the American party.

The yellow jersey owner Viktar Rapinski tried an early breakaway but soon be swallowed by the main bunch. But the young rider sped up before the second hot sprint and led with more than one minute with 30km to go.

However, his sprint proved to be too early. Jeffry Louder, who had been hiding in the first group for more than 100km to save his energy, pounced at the final 2km to surge past all the opponents to claim his first stage win at the race and snatched the yellow jersey from his teammate with an advantage of one second.

"I feel great. Navigator performed like a team. We did an amazing job. And I'm lucky to win the yellow jersey," said Louder.

"I hope to keep winning and hold on the jersey as long as possible, but I don't know, maybe my teammates will win.

"It's my first time to China, but it remind me a lot of where I am from, you know, in the United States we also have a big salt lake. And the spectators are amazing, too."

Rapinski failed in reserving the yellow jersey, however he kept the green jersey for the leading sprinter and obtained compensation for losing the yellow -- a red jersey for the leading climber.

David Mckenzie, who ran along with Louder almost during the whole course, placed second of the stage and third at the general time classification.

Wang Guozhang from China, who finished ninth at the first stage, stayed in the main bunch for more than 170km and attacked at the final 10km to be the third to cross the finish line. He grabbed the blue jersey for the leading Asian Rider while stepping up to the fourth on the general list.

Meandering through the mountains, the grasslands and pure blue salt lake, more than 100 riders enjoyed the fantastic scenery of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. However, there are 13 of them were not lucky enough to appreciate the beauty until the end, quitting from the stage because of discomfort about the high altitude and the weather.

The third stage goes from Xihai Town to Bird Island, with a total length of 152km.

Source: Xinhua