Putting on a show in Poyang

The 13th edition of the UCI Tour of Poyang Lake, one of China’s premier cycling races, was held this week. The race, known for attracting both domestic and international talent, takes cyclists on a rapid multi-stage journey through the regions surrounding Poyang Lake. The Quick Pro Team was there in full force and ready to light things up. 

This year saw some exhilarating racing across the 11 stages traveling a total of 1089 kilometers. The Quick Pro lads were well up to the task and put on some big performances, taking home three wins and a podium. This is a testament to their race craft, hard training miles and of course their equipment. The team’s weapon of choice is the Quick Pro ER:ONE aero bike. With the big watts they are putting out and wanting to seek out every marginal gain, they trust in the ER:ONE’s stiffness and aero tubes to slice through the wind and transfer every watt they have onto the road.

Martin Laas, the team’s sprinter, racked up two more stage wins (SCRATCH THAT, THREE MORE STAGE WINS) to add to his overall tally of six. I had already written this article and had to come back and edit it, because Martin went and won again! He nabbed the final stage in another nail biting finish separated only by a bike throw.  This sees him go even further clear at the top of the all time stage win ranks for the Tour of Poyang Lake.

His absolutely blistering sprint saw him reach a max speed of 72 km/h during his win on stage two, earning him the sprint jersey. Martin was far from finished though and took stage nine and eleven with some huge kicks to get over the line ahead of the pack. Chapeau!

Martin wasn’t the only one getting on the podium though, Gleb Karpenko had a strong ride to pick up second place on stage seven and get the Quick Pro Team back on the box. Gleb is a former Estonian national time trial champion and is a crucial part of the team, mostly responsible for chasing breakways or getting on the front of the peloton and keeping the pace high, preventing other teams from moving up in crucial moments. Gleb relies heavily on his 56 tooth chainrings from CYBREI to keep the speeds of the pack up where he needs them to be. It was awesome to see Gleb getting a result.

The Quick Pro Team has a formidable sprint train and it’s going from strength to strength with young riders being added to the roster and having a chance to prove themselves in these tightly contested races. Pictured on the left is Martti Lenzius, one of the U23 young guns who has joined the team this season. (Middle: Martin Laas | Right: Oskar Nisu)

Let’s talk gear for a second. The Quick Pro Team is our dependable squad for gear testing, they need equipment that can keep up with them when things get spicy. They are running the Quick Pro ER:ONE framesets with CANWIN integrated handlebars, which come in a variety of sizes so they can fine tune their positions for speed. CYBREI carbon cranks and chainrings are at the centre of these bikes adding stiffness, removing weight. These give the riders options for almost any length cranks and some huge chainrings. They are also running the tripeak oversized pulley wheels which reduce drivetrain friction and help to keep the legs fresh on long stages. To seek out those final few watt savings, the team have been running the AHYKA aero bottles, these are coming to the site soon and are a great choice to make final tweaks to an already fast setup.

If you’re interested any of the gear listed above you can browse the products below and get stuck into upgrading your ride: