Maintaining his two-second advantage over DFL Cyclingnews' Daniel Lloyd, overall victory in China’s Tour of Qinghai Lake is all but assured for Italian climbing veteran Gabriele Massaglia. For the second day in succession, a breakaway before the day's main climb worked in his favor, and once on the mountain, the 36-year-old was strong enough to fend off his adversaries.

"I wasn't the strongest - that was Relax - but I worked with my head, because I knew the others did not want to risk everything," said Massaglia of the events on Daban mountain, who was shivering so badly at the finish he had to stay in a heated car till the presentation ceremony.

"For 25 kilometers of the climb, I suffered enormously because of the cold. There were quite a few attacks, but I stayed in the first positions [when it happened], and from then on, it was more controlled."

However, the six-man breakaway was not without its dangers. Weisenhof's Joerg Ludewig, 12th overall at the start of the day and 3:08 off the lead, was one of the sextet and at one stage was seconds away from the virtual race lead. As he and breakaway buddy José Luis Rubiera left their companions behind on the switch-backed slopes, their three-minute advantage presented a clear and present danger for Massaglia et al., but two punctures on the descent cost the German any chance of both the yellow jersey and the stage, which went to Spaniard Rubiera.

Rubiera and Ludewig lead the race.

"We had an agreement he [Rubiera] would wait for me on the climb," said Ludewig, "then we would push as hard as we can and see what would happen. When I punctured, our plan was destroyed. It's okay he didn't wait for me, because if somebody punctures with 20 k's to go, you can't wait. But I did my best to get the yellow jersey... S*** happens, eh - that's cycling!"

Popular Spaniard Rubiera, who goes by the nickname of 'Chechu', didn't even have to sprint for his first win in six years, but it was a win nonetheless, and one well deserved: "No, we both came to the finish exhausted," Rubiera replied when asked if the win was a 'gift' from Ludewig, the pair finishing 1:45 ahead of the yellow jersey group, led home by Intel-Action's Denis Kostyuk.

"I wanted to wait for him, but I was concerned about the guys coming from behind; if we lost a minute, maybe we would've been caught. He was super-strong and came back to me, but finally, in the last meters, I managed to beat him. I was really lucky."

Lloyd and the Relax-Gam pairing of Francisco Mancebo and Francisco Terciado Sacedo did try to unseat Massaglia, but as the Italian said earlier, he responded with his head, and knew those around him were also trying to preserve their places. "I'm really happy now - I believe overall victory in China is now mine. Tomorrow, I don't see any problem," said Massaglia.

Just a 110km circuit race around the streets of Xining is all that remains. Certainly, anything can happen in cycling and with seven seconds separating the Massaglia, Lloyd and Mancebo, one could take an outside bet on someone other than the Italian donning the final yellow jersey. But should things come down to a sprint, on paper, Massaglia is the quicker of the three, and has experience on his side. So if you do, don't make the bet a big one.

Morning glory
A near-perfect day dawned in Menyuan for the 118 remaining riders: although the sun was out, it wasn't terribly strong, the mercury reading just 10 degrees C when the peloton left for their 168.1km journey east-sou'-east to Bazha then southwest to the finish in Huzhu.

China's Haijun Ma became the new best Asian rider.

The initial leisurely stroll was unlike that of the days previous, characterized by flurries of attacking and counter-attacking till the peloton finally let a non-threatening break go. A few did try as they hugged the scenic banks of the Datong river, but none succeeded in the first 50km.

After one and a half hours' racing, a group of four took flight. Moments later, another two caught on, and this sextet became the move of the day: with six teams represented, each of our escapees stood an even chance, these being Rubiera, Ludewig, Peter Herzig (FRF Couriers), Alex Rasmussen (Denmark), Clement Lhotellerie (Skil-Shimano) and Volodymyr Zagorodniy (OTC Doors).

At the foot of Daban mountain, 108km into the race, Rubiera and Ludewig were away, matching each other stroke-for-stroke up the 3,448-metre-high ascent. Herzig, Rasmussen, Lhotellerie and Zagorodniy were a minute-and-a-half in arrears, with a 19-man peloton containing all the GC favorites exactly three minutes behind the lead duo.

It seemed a pact of sorts had been created between Rubiera and Ludewig - which the German confirmed afterwards - in that the pair would work with each other till the top to give themselves the best possible chance of staying away; once a sizeable lead had been attained, they'd fight out the finish. When Rubiera led his companion over the summit, they were still 2:50 in front of the groupe maillot jaune who had caught the four in front of them, and barring disaster, it seemed one of these two was certain to win.

It turned out fate was to decide who that would be, as Ludewig first suffered a rear-wheel flat on the descent, then, just when he got going again, his front tire started getting squishy. With incredible fortitude, the German managed to get himself back on to Rubiera's wheel five kilometers from the finish, but was too pooped to do anything more than roll across the line in the same position, presenting victory to the Spaniard.

1:45 later, as Kostyuk took an 18-man field sprint for third, Massaglia clenched his fist, knowing overall victory was in the bag.

The road ahead - To conclude what has been both a magnificent scenic and physical spectacle, the tour wraps up on Sunday with a 110km circuit race in the Qinghai Lake provincial capital of Xining. A virtually pancake-flat profile will ensure lightning fast speeds around the 5.5km circuit, to be completed 10 times before the final dash for cash.