Martin poised to retain Beijing cycling crown

Defending champion Tony Martin won the second stage of this year's Tour of Beijing on Wednesday after dominating for most of the race and crossing the line with a huge lead of 46 seconds. The German cyclist is now leading overall in the last tour of the season, and is in a dominant position to retain the title he won last year at China's first World Tour calendar event. But the 27-year-old, who took silver medal in the men's individual time trial at the Olympics this year remained cautious, despite holding an overall lead of 50 seconds with three races remaining in the five-day tour. "Tomorrow is an uphill finish, and I am sure some guys will go really fast, so now I have to fight," he said after the race, which was staged from Beijing's Olympic Park to the city's hilly western suburbs. Martin, who races for the Omega Pharma-QuickStep team, clinched victory after he pulled away on the final descent with about 25 of the 126 kilometres (16 of 78 miles) of the race remaining. The following pack of seven chasers failed to close the gap on Martin, who appeared to slip easily into time trial mode as he made his triumphant dash for the finishing line. Italian Elia Viviani, who races for the Liquigas-Cannondale team, won the first stage of the race on Tuesday. The Tour of Beijing is the final event of the season, and will see 18 of the world's top cycling teams compete. A total of 140 cyclists from 30 countries raced in the second stage. 2010 Tour de France champion Andy Schleck of Luxembourg is also competing in Beijing.