Benjamin Giraud of Marseille 13-KTM outsprinted race leader Sacha Modolo at the end of a very demanding finale in stage 5 of the 10th Tour of Hainan.
The Frenchman is highly regarded in Asia as he already won stages at the Tour of Qinghai Lake, the Tour de Taiwan and the Tour of China. As defending champions after Julien Antomarchi’s overall victory last year, the squad from the Mediterranean city aims for more.
“This is a great win,” Giraud reacted in Qiongzhong, a cycling-friendly city in the centre of the island where an international cyclo-cross was organized for the first time at the end of August this year.
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“Beating a rider like Modolo with the palmarès he’s got is beautiful. Finishing third yesterday, I felt I had the victory in the legs. I got confirmation of my good feelings when I won the first intermediate sprint today. The finale was exactly what I like the most with a false flat section to sprint for the win.”
It wasn’t a standard stage for sprinters. Firstly, it came after a very long one (237km) won by Modolo, who noted: “Many riders had that
distance in their legs.”
Secondly, although the fight for the King of the Mountain price hasn’t started yet, the last 15km of racing to Qiongzhong were lumpy. It put an end to the hopes of the breakaway riders Taras Voropayev (Vino4ever), Vitaly Buts (Ukraine) and Ma Guangtong (Hengxiang) who took the lead of the best Asian rider competition back from his team-mate Wang Meiyin.
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