Sprint finish keeps Martin in Beijing lead

Martin is set to win his 2nd tour of the year - pictured here after winning Paris Nice ©Graham Watson

Oct 9th, 11. Liquigas went one two in the mass sprint finish of Stage 4 of the Tour of Beijing where Tony Martin looks set to take the overall victory after tomorrow's final stage.

Today's victory to Elia Viviani was the 22-year-old track and road star's 8th race victory for the year and the launching pad, he hopes, for much more to come.

"It is very good for me. It is my only second season as a pro. I am young and I can now hope for the sprints next season in the big races," Viviani said. 

"It was a very fast sprint at the end of a very long stage. The team was fantastic for me."

After the peloton caught a dangerous six man escape, Viviani conquered the virtually straight 5km run into the finish. His teammate Peter Sagan placed 2nd and SaxoBank Sungard's JJ Haedo crossed the line in 3rd place.

Race leader Martin (HTC Highroad) finished with the same time to keep his 17sec GC lead over David Millar (Garmin Cervelo).

"The group out in front was really too big and it was not so easy to control the race," Martin said. "It took a long time to bring them back. But in the end the team was riding really strong and everything was okay."

NZ Road Champion Hayden Roulston had a break from driving the front of the peloton today. He was instead supporting team fastman Leigh Howard who finished 7th.

Tomorrow's 120km final stage can only be described as flat with hardly an undulation between the start and the twelve 8km circuits in the Olympic Park.

"We will aim to control this race right from the start, and do so all the way to the finish," Roulston wrote on his blog. "I am real motivated to just pull all day too.

"Tony is a machine, and deserves to be in the lead after his stellar time trial.. he confirmed why he is the current World TT Champion, and that is why we are all committed to one goal here, to win the race with him."

Tour of Beijing results ...