It’s four in a row for Theo Bos

Tour of Hainan, stage 5, Wanning-Baoting-Sanya, km 187

It looks easy for Theo Bos but it’s not! The flying Dutchman got dropped in the last hill and got back on with ten kilometers to go to claim his fourth stage win in a row at the 2013 Tour of Hainan. His team-mate Moreno Hofland kept his wheel, finished second again and increased his lead on GC to 43 seconds over runner up Frédéric Amorison with the time bonus he also collected on the way, while Tour of Hainan record holder of stage wins Boris Shpilevski (10, in 2009 and 2010) moved one position up from the previous day to accompany the two Belkin riders on stage for the award ceremony.

“Luckily I could make it back to the bunch behind my team-mate Marc Goos after I got dropped in the last hill”, Bos commented with a hint of relief. “I come from sprinting in track cycling, so it’s never easy for me to climb. I’m not comfortable riding my bike uphill. It was a big challenge for me to survive a stage like today’s. We managed to get organized on time for a bunch sprint with the Ukrainian national team. We were the two strongest teams on the road.”

While attackers Floris Goesinnen of Drapac and Lukas Ranacher of KTM got caught 25km away from the finishing line after securing a maximum lead of 3.25, Ukraine pursued two goals: keeping Vitaly Buts’ lead in the King of the Mountains competition and leading Yuriy Metlushenko out for the final sprint. “Two team-mates helped me get the polka dot jersey for one more day and tomorrow will be an important stage for this classification with three climbs on the course”, Buts explained. “Then I put myself at the service of Metlushenko who finished fourth. It’s pretty good but we hoped for a bit more and why not winning.”

It looks like Shpilevski’s condition is growing as he keeps moving up in the stage ranking every day but Belkin Pro Cycling continues to capture the show with another 1-2 like on stage 2 and stage 3. “Ukraine was very strong today”, Hofland noted. “But I didn’t get boxed in this time. Nobody could pass me on the left side, so I was second again and happy with that. Tomorrow it can be a different story. With more climbs on the course, it suits me better than today. I might be able to sprint for victory and not for second place. It would be nice, but my most important goal is to keep the yellow jersey and not lose any time.”

Stage 5 Results – Tour of Hainan
1. Theo Bos (BEL) 4:17:15
2. Moreno Hofland (BEL)
3. Boris Shpilevskiy (RTS)
4. Yuriy Metlushenko (UKR)
5. Yannick Martinez (LPM)
6. Maksym Averin (ARH)

General classification –Tour of Hainan
1. Moreno Hofland (BEL) 17:57:50
2. Frédéric Amorison (CRE) +43
3. Theo Bos (BEL) +48
4. Thomas Leezer (BEL) +52
5. Fabian Schnaidt (CSS) +55
6. Kevin Peeters (CRE)

LEADERBOARD going into stage six, the classification leaders are:
Yellow Jersey (Individual GC): Moreno Hofland (BEL) 
Green Jersey (Points Classification): Moreno Hofland (BEL) 
Polka Dot Jersey: Vitaliy Buts (UKR) 
Blue Jersey (Best Asian Rider Classification): Liu Yilin (HEN)
Teams GC: Belkin Pro Cycling Team

Sprint 1
1. Moreno Hofland (BEL)
2. Fabian Schnaidt (CSS)
3. Thomas Leezer (BEL)

Sprint 2
1. Floris Goesinnen (DPC)
2. Ranacher Lukas (KTM)
3. Liu Yilin (HEN)

Sprint 3
1. Ranacher Lukas (KTM)
2. Floris Goesinnen (DPC)
3. Moreno Hofland (BEL)

KOM (Cat.2, Elevation 200m)
1. Gogl Michael (KTM)
2. Vitaliy Buts (UKR)
3. Adrian Honkisz (CCC)

KOM (Cat.2, Elevation 296m)
1. Floris Goesinnen (DPC)
2. Ranacher Lukas (KTM)
3. Mateusz Taciak (CCC)