Movistar's Benat Intxausti won the Tour of Beijing on a day where Argos Shimano's Luka Mezgec won the final stage of the final UCI race of the season.
The fifth and final stage was a 117km battle from Tian an men Square to the Bird’s Nest Piazza and saw Marco Pinotti (BMC) and Juan Antonio Flecha (Vacansoleil-DCM), who are both retiring after this race in the opening break with Olivier Kaisen (Lotto-Belisol), Australia's Cameron Meier (Orica-GreenEdge) and Manuele Boaro (Saxo-Tinkoff).
Being the last day, the escapers, none of whom were any threat to race leader Benat Intxausti, who had a ten second lead over Dan Martin, were more than happy to let the two retirees have their day in the spotlight.
And on a sunny day, Marco Pinotti took the five points ahead of Flecha for the first sprint after 39kms.
Oliver Kaisen took the second sprint after 67.5kms but Flecha came back to take third.
The five riders stayed away with a lead which dropped down from over a minute to around thirty seconds when Cameron Meier decided to launch an attack.
It proved futile and on the final lap of a 7.5km circuit, with Intxausti safely in the Omega Pharma Quick Step led peloton, they were caught with 5kms to go.
World Time Trial champion Tony Martin stormed off the front a kilometre later but Belkin brought him back.
Argos Shimano got to the front as did FDJ working for Nacer Bouhanni who was first to go but Luka Mezgec switched to the left after coming off Bouhanni's wheel and took the win in 2.23.56, ahead of Bouhanni, Moreno Hofland of Belkin, Matti Breschel of Saxo-Tinkoff and Roberto Ferrari of Lampre-Merida.
Stage winner Luka Mezgec told the Argos Shimano Press Office: "It took a while to come and I made everyone wait until the final day of the season "I knew I could win here after going close on the first stage, and it doesn't just come on the final day of the season but in the WorldTour which is amazing.
“We've had great results all year, with Marcel Kittel (GER), John Degenkolb (GER) and Warren Barguil (FRA) winning in the Grand Tours, and the whole team has worked hard all season. It's great that I can finish the season with a win too."
“It is beautiful that Luka can finally show off with a victory after going close on many occasions," said coach Rudi Kemna (NED). "The team worked all week for this moment and we have made once again some big steps in our sprint train.
“Luka was confident in his lead-out and that is what we saw here today. It is not easy to go at the right moment, but if the train delivers you in the right place, it can make the difference between winning and losing. That is what the team did today, maybe a bit early, but they had the speed and put him on the right wheel.
“We can look back on a good Tour of Beijing, with a second place in stage one and now a big win here in downtown Beijing. The boys were great all race, they're progressed once more, and they can travel home with yet another team victory."
General Classification
1 Benat Intxausti Movistar 19:35:46
2 Daniel Martin Garmin-Sharp 0:00:10
3 David Lopez Sky 0:00:13
4 Rui Costa Movistar 0:00:18
5 Romain Bardet AG2R 0:00:24
6 Tony Martin Omega Pharma-Quick Step
7 Jan Bakelants RadioShack Leopard 0:00:26
8 Robert Gesink Belkin
9 Ivan Basso Cannondale
10 Garikoitz Oiarbide Euskaltel 0:00:31
35 Josh Edmondson Sky
71 Steve Cummings BMC
133 Alex Dowsett Movistar
POINTS
1 Nacer Bouhanni FDJ.fr 52 pts
2 Luka Mezgec Argos-Shimano 36
3 Matti Breschel Saxo-Tinkoff 33
4 Alessandro Petacchi Omega Pharma-Quick Step 33
5 Roberto Ferrari Lampre-Merida 31
Young Rider
Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
King Of The Mountains
1 Damiano Caruso Cannondale 49 pts
2 Wesley Sulzberger Orica-GreenEdge 35
3 José Gutierrez Movistar 18
4 Chad Beyer Champion System 17
5 Olivier Kaisen Lotto Belisol 16
Team Classification
1 BMC 58:49:11
2 Movistar 0:00:04
3 AG2R 0:00:18
4 Radioshack 0:00:29
5 Sky 0:00:54