Team managers identify different favorites for GC

Although the same rider [Jakub Mareczko]  wins every day, the 12^th edition of the Tour of Hainan is very open.  We questioned the sport directors and they don’t come up with any clear  favorite.

Former German sprinter Danilo Hondo who  directs the Swiss national team directly answered: “Nobody stands out as a  favorite from the first few stages because they have been too controlled. Many  riders are hiding in the bunch until stage 7.”

One  showed up during stage 4 and it’s Marco Zanotti of Monkey Town who went for the  time bonuses up for grabs in the intermediate sprints. His boss Paul Tabak made  his name before the start: “He’s not sprinting with the best these days but he  has trained a lot in the mountains.”

The  beauty of the Tour of Hainan is that the profile of the eventual winner is not  clear. It can be a very good climber like Alexey Lutsenko last year and a  sprinter like Sacha Modolo two years ago. “On stage 7, the downhill is just as  important as the uphill”, warned Lin Wen Chin of RTS-Monton who has a lot of  experience behind the stirring wheel in the Asia Tour races at the difference of  Roberto Reverberi who is enjoying his first experience on China’s tropical  island.

“We  want to win the overall classification with Enrico Barbin but the time bonuses  count a lot in this race”, realized the manager of Bardiani CSF. That’s the  question mark around race leader Jakub Mareczko: can he limit the losses on  stage 7 and lose less time than he gains every time he wins a bunch sprint  finish (10 seconds)?

“I  still believe Bardiani are the favorites”, noted Li Fuyu of Hengxiang.  “Vorarlberg, the Swiss national team and IsoWhey are the other strong teams for  the overall classification, but maybe not as good as Ukyo.”

The  Japanese squad won stage 1 with Jon Aberasturi but they have more in store when  it comes to climbing. Tour de Taiwan winner Benjamin Prades has showed his  intentions in the little climbs already whereas his team-mate Oscar Pujol, also  from Spain and Tour of Japan winner this year, just returned from being the  runner up to Vincenzo Nibali in the Taiwan KOM challenge.

Serge Parsani of Wilier Triestina also  identified the Spanish duo as the main competition to his team and he made  another name: “Serghey Tvetcov from Jelly Belly looks very good for the climbs.”  Tabak mentioned Benjamin Hill from Attaque Gusto, the third contender of the KOM  classification along with Prades and current leader Vitaly Buts who admitted  after stage 4 that the overall ranking is his second goal for this week.