Wednesday 10 October 2012 10:00, UK
Tony Martin put himself in the box seat to defend his Tour of Beijing title with a magnificent solo victory on stage two.
Five riders combined to go clear early on, making up 3:15 on the bunch, yet surprisingly the gap plummeted as the race hit the first climb of the day. The first category ascent split the peloton to pieces, a select group heading clear with Dan Martin (Garmin-Sharp) and Tony Martin the most prominent names to hit out and open up a gap. With both Martin's reeled in the lead group were motivated to keep their gap to the group behind, Euskaltel-Euskadi and AG2R La Mondiale pushing the pace onwards to peg the margin at around the 1:30 mark. With a sizeable group still together there were a number of attacks in a bid to shake things up on the final second category climb up to Dong Fang Hong Tunnel. Tony Martin attacked out of the darkness, plummeting down the descent to remain clear for his first non-time trial stage victory for two and a half years.
