Stage 3 : Post race quotes

Stage 3 winner and race leader Jakub  Mareczko: “It wasn’t a very easy stage. They started very strongly so we have  covered 155km in less than three and half hours. There was a lot of wind and the  course was always up and down. Like yesterday, my team-mates kept the breakaways  under control. In the finale, with Bardiani and Ukyo, we put the peloton in one  lane. [Eugert] Zhupa took me to the front again and I managed to sprint on the  front line in such a way that nobody could beat me. Compared to yesterday, I  used a different tactic. I waited for longer to open my sprint because of the  head wind and the terrain that was slightly uphill before the flat section where  I chose to accelerate. We’ll see day by day what our rivals want to do. We have  the leader’s jersey and we’ll try to defend it and get as many bunch sprint  finishes as possible.”

Second placed Jon  Aberasturi: “I waited before I launched my sprint because it was a bit of an  uphill finish and I thought it would feel a bit long. I was in a good position  but I didn’t see a clear opening on the left. I waited for a space on the right  but I had to sit down because there was no room to move past the lead-out guys  between them and the barriers. I lost my momentum. I couldn’t give it all, there  was no opening until 70 or 80m to the line. Sometimes you make mistakes but  that’s cycling. Congratulations to Mareczko, he’s always hard to beat,  furthermore if he can launch his sprint with 200m to go. I’m happy with the  victory on the first day and I feel I can go for more in the next days. I’ve had  some breathing issues in the first two days and today I felt really  good.”

Third placed Anthony Giacoppo: “I’m very  happy with third. I’ve done the lead out through the year so I haven’t really  had my own opportunity. Today I had a go. It’s nice to come away with a result.  With Scott Sunderland being still injured from his crash at the Tour of China,  we don’t have a real sprinter so we try to mix it up a bit. I didn’t feel the  greatest today but I’m glad it went well, as it did with Michael Freiberg on the  first day.”

King of the Mountain Vitaly Buts: “It’s  been a hard day for me. After two days of breaking away, I felt tired. But my  team worked so well to pull the breakaway back before the only categorized climb  of the day, I went for it and I scored one point to keep the jersey. We’ve done  our job pretty well. We hope to do even better tomorrow.”

Most aggressive rider Benjamin Hill: “When  I broke away, I knew the chance of a stage win would be slim like yesterday. The  main goal was to pick up the KOM. But unfortunately, Kolss rode together and  brought us back before the KOM and I had tired legs to sprint from the bunch. I  didn’t quite hang on to it. I came second. It puts me on equal points but I  don’t have the jersey. So maybe I’ll try again tomorrow. To get the most  aggressive rider price is a bonus though.”

Best Asian rider Liu Jianpeng: “This is my  sixth Tour of Hainan but my first time on the honor roll because in the past, my  team-mates Wang Meiyin, Ma Guangtong and Zhao Jingbiao were always taking those  prices and I worked for them. But I’m very happy that Wang joined a WorldTour  team [Bahrain-Merida] and I wish him to succeed at that level. I also wish Zhao  a prompt recovery after his crash. I fought for the first intermediate sprint to  get this jersey and I hope to retain  it.”