Cycling Pro Road & Mtb

No prize for attitude in Hainan

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Parent Category: Cycling Pro Road & Mtb

Category: News 2010

Published on Tuesday, 12 October 2010 16:39

Written by Luca Salvatelli

The FOOTON-SERVETTO-FUJI team has taken his second consecutive podium in the 5TH Tour de Hainan (2.HC) after the Queen Stage of the Asian course was ridden today over 168 kilometers with two demanding mountain passes from Sanya to Baoting, where the squad directed by Joxean FernándezMatxin came again in leading style. Aussie Johnnie Walker was only beaten by Valentin Iglinskiy (AST), the new leader of the race, and Taiji Nishitani (AIS) after a final charge where Arkaitz Durán, the strongest within the climbers in this year's Chinese tour, broke the bunch into pieces and came in first across the last KOM banner to snatch the polka-dot jersey following his breakaway yesterday.

The eventual regroupment took a 25-rider group ahead together, with four riders from the Gold Generation as Durán, Walker, Ermanno Capelli and Enrique Mata made it on front. The Spaniard was initially the man to bring forward into the sprint, but a double puncture in his two wheels with 300 meters from the finish avoided him taking the final rush. The race will be returning to normality tomorrow as the race enters a long run of flat stages: the cities of Baoting and Xinglong will be linked in a 146-km run to contest a predictable mass arrival.