ITALIAN Daniele Nardello of the world's number one professional cycling team Mapei yesterday rose three notches to top spot in the overall standings of the Kent Tour of China.
He has an overall time of 10 hours, 43 minutes and 47 seconds after the fifth stage in Beijing. Despite the testing nature of the 132 kilometres road race, with six categorised climbs from Hairou to the Great Wall, 100 riders finished.
The three top finishers yesterday - Nardello, teammate Alessandro Calzolari and Russian Viatcheslav Ekimov of the Novell team - all had an identical time of three minutes and 19.05 seconds.
The inaugural Tour finishes in Beijing today with a 25-kilometre time trial at the Beijing Olympic Stadium.
Hong Kong's top cyclist Wong Kam-po, who clocked three minutes and 33.32 seconds yesterday, is the best placed Hong Kong rider.
Wong is sitting 59th with an overall time of 11 hours, five minutes and 36 seconds - 21 minutes and 49 seconds behind Nardello.
