OPQS rider Nikolas Maes opened the Tour of Beijing with a 5th place in a bunch sprint. The first stage started in Chong Li and finished in Zhangjiakou (167 km).
The stage was animated by an escape group of 3 riders. The last rider was caught at 20 kilometres from the line. In the preparation for the bunch sprint OPQS was placed well and brought Maes to the front of the bunch in the final kilometre.
Luka Mezgec (Giant-Shimano) won the first stage, he outsprinted Celab Ewan (Orica-GreenEDGE) and Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Sharp).
