Haller shocks big name in final sprint at Tour of Beijing

Marco Haller from team Katusha claimed his first professional victory in the fourth stage at the Tour of Beijing here on Friday. The Austrian rider prevailed in a scrappy bunch sprint at the end of the 165.5-kilometer stage from Yan Qing to Chang Ping, clocking the time of three hours 35 minutes and 39 seconds. Germany's world time trial champion Tony Martin from team Omega Pharma-QuickStep, who finished the fourth stage following the leading group, retains his 40-second lead on general classification going into Saturday's final stage. Frenchman Jeremy Roy from team FDJ-BigMat made a breakaway from the leading five riders in the final 10km but his aggressive attack was demolished as the sprinters' group gradually cut the deficit and put the final kilometers into a bunch sprint. Lampre veteran Alessandro Petacchi of Italy grabbed the second place, while his compatriot Elia Viviani ranked the third. Saturday's final stage will start from Chang Ping's stadium to Ping Gu's century plaza. All of the 18 WorldTour teams and the Chinese continental professional team Champion System lined up in the second edition of the five-day race, the first of its kind in Asia as the International Cycling Union (UCI) looks to expand into new continents.