Cycling world's elite head for first Tour of Beijing

The cream of cycling head for the Chinese capital this week for the inaugural Tour of Beijing, a five-day stage race, which will include the world's top 18 teams and a Chinese selection. The race will be the first of its kind in Asia, as the International Cycling Union (UCI) looks to expand into new continents. After Australia's Tour Down Under and the Grand Prix of Quebec Montreal in north America, Asia now has a top-level competition on the WorldTour calendar. Under contract for the next four years, the is being organised jointly by the UCI and ASO (Amaury Sports Organisation), with Tour de France director Jean-Francois Pescheux holding the same function in Beijing. Beijing officials are keen to promote cycling, to build on the heritage of the 2008 Olympics, with the Bird's Nest stadium and Water Cube Aquatics Centre hosting the start and finish of the opening time-trial. The route, which covers the north-west of Beijing, has also been selected for environmental reasons, and includes the Mentougou Eco Valley, hailed as the "green lungs" of the region. The race gets under way on Wednesday with 11.3km time-trial around the Olympic Park, concluding on Sunday with a 118km run between Tiananmen Square and the Bird's Nest. Taking into account the physical condition of the peloton at the tail-end of the season, the remaining stages will be short but hilly. Newly-crowned world time-trial champion Tony Martin of Germany starts as favourite in the time-trial, with Slovak Peter Sagan, winner of three stages in the Tour of Spain, and Olympic road race champion Samuel Sanchez of Spain also competing. Stages Wednesday: 1st stage, Bird's Nest - Water Cube, 11.3km time-trial Thursday: 2nd stage, Bird's Nest - Mentougou, 137km Friday: 3rd stage, Mentougou - Yongning, 162km Saturday: 4th stage, Yanqing - Shunyi, 189.5km Sunday: 5th stage, Tiananmen Square - Bird's Nest, 118km