The race covered 614.3 kilometres (381.7 mi) acrossBeijing over five stages, and was the first race to be owned by Global Cycling's governing body, theUnion Cycliste Internationale, a move which raised some controversy.[2] It was the 25th race of theUCI World Tour season.[3]
The race was won byHTC–Highroad riderTony Martin, after winning the opening time trial stage and maintaining his advantage to the end of the race.[4] Martin's winning margin over runner-upDavid Millar ofGarmin–Cervélo was 17 seconds, andTeam Sky'sChris Froome completed the podium, 9 seconds behind Millar and 26 seconds down on Martin. In the race's other classifications,Denis Galimzyanov ofTeam Katusha won the points classification,Euskaltel–Euskadi'sIgor Antón won the mountains classification,Ben King finished on top of the young rider classification, with Team Sky topping the teams classification.
As the race was held under the auspices of theUCI World Tour, all eighteen ProTour teams were invited automatically. Together with a selection of Chinese riders forming theChinese National Cycling Team this formed the event's 19-team peloton.[7]
Tony Martin (GER)
Heinrich Haussler (AUS)
Nicolas Roche (IRL)
Elia Viviani (ITA)
Denis Galimzyanov (RUS)
