Beaten by Jon Aberasturi in the first sprint finish at the Tour of Hainan, Jakub Mareczko (Wilier Triestina) got everything right on day two as he out-sprinted the rest of the field at the end of the longest stage in the 12th edition of China’s tropical island’s event. Martin Laas (Delko Marseille Provence KTM) took second with Switzerland’s Dylan Page rounding out the podium.
Mareczko’s victory was enough to put him into the race lead, ahead of Aberasturi who finished 21st on the day.
“Today we’ve felt the heat and the length of the stage,” Mareczko reacted. “We wanted to control the race, so we put Luca Raggio at the front of the peloton. In the finale, all my teammates worked hard to catch the breakaway. It hasn’t been easy, and we arrived a bit cooked. Luckily [Eugert] Zhupa took me to the front at the right moment. I launched my sprint from far out because I didn’t want to risk to getting stuck in the traffic. I’m happy with the win and the yellow jersey but let’s hope it’s only the first victory at the Tour of Hainan.”
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Mareczko came third in the day’s first intermediate sprint, behind Ukraine’s Mikhaylo Kononenko (Kolss) and Estonia’s Martin Laas who positioned himself as Delko Marseille’s sprinter for the day as the French team has another option with Latvia’s Emil Liepins. After 42km of racing, a breakaway finally took shape with King of the Mountains Vitaly Buts (Kolss), Benjamin Hill (Attaque Team Gusto), Ivar Slik (Monkey Town), Ma Guangtong (Hengxiang) and Lukas Meiler (Vorarlberg). A lone chaser for a while, Alexis Cartier (H&R Block) was unable to bridge the gap. The maximum lead of the quintet was 6:20 at kilometre 108.
“Some of the riders in the front group stopped their effort after the intermediate sprint,” Meiler explained. “I’m happy because all I could get from this breakaway is the most combative rider prize and I got it.” He forged on with Slik, but the duo was reeled in with 84km to go.
Some 75km before the end, another group, comprising Rick Van Breda (Monkey Town), Jordan Cheyne (Jelly Belly) and Fabian Lienhard (Vorarlberg), rode away. They built a maximum gap of 3:30 with 39km to go. Van Breda was first to be swallowed by the peloton led by riders from Wilier Triestina, Kolss and IsoWhey Sports-Swisswellness. Cheyne insisted on his own in the last 10 kilometres but was caught under the flamme rouge.
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