XDS Cup Tour of Hainan stage 2 results: Martin Laas continues hot streak in Asia to win sprint finish
Laas makes the most of teammates’ exquisite lead-out to take bunch sprint victory and overall race lead in Lingshui
Martin Laas of Ferei Quick-Panda Podium Mongolia won a sun-baked stage 2 of the XDS Cup Tour of Hainan on Wednesday afternoon, with the Estonian followed over the line by Aaron Gate (Burgos-BH) in second place and Timothy Dupont (Tarteletto-Isorex) in third. The 30-year-old has now taken stage victories in three separate stage races in Asia over the past five weeks, marking a tremendous run of form for the wily sprinter.
Laas benefitted from the nous of teammate Mihkel Räim in the final kilometre, with his teammate and compatriot making the wise decision to wait until 350m to go before coming to the front, thereby snatching the final right-hand bend for his sprinter and giving Laas the inside line. With that, Laas showed an impressive kick to power over the line in first position.
Earlier in the stage, a five-man breakaway consisting of the polka-dot jersey wearer Chaohua Hao (Hainan Wuzhishan) and others went up the road, much to the chagrin of Li Ning Star, who failed to bridge across to the lead group in a last-ditch effort. But the breakaway would fall apart on the day’s only categorised climb and coming into the final few kilometres, only an opportunistic attack by VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizané’s Filippo Magni stood between the peloton and a bunch sprint finish.
In sight of Lingshui, Magni battled hard but ultimately fell up short thanks to the work of those behind, who ensured that a bunch spint would decide the day’s victor.
In taking the win, Laas also moved into the lead of both the points classification and general classification,
whilst Kane Richards of Roojai Insurance did enough to earn the King of the Mountains jersey.
and Muhammad Nur Aiman Bin Rosli’s (Terengganu Cycling Team) day in the break ended with him pulling on the blue jersey for the best-placed Asian rider.
Yihau Fan of Bodywrap, meanwhile, was declared the most aggressive rider of the stage.
How it happened
A to-and-fro battle for the day’s breakaway
Once again, the peloton began the day in Qionghai on stage 2 of the XDS Cup Tour of Hainan, but this time their parcours would take the peloton south to the city of Lingshui. There was a real sense of anticipation at the stage start, with riders and staff both aware that Wednesday would bring the first stage of significant length. Travelling along the Hainan Coastal Scenic Highway, stage 2 was 178.9km in length and featured a flat finish that looked to suit the sprinters.
With barely a cloud in the sky, the peloton left Qionghai shortly after 10am, baked in the glow of the glistening sun. The 33-degree temperature did nothing to dissuade early attacks, with the Cypriot champion Andreas Miltiadis (Terengganu Cycling Team) an early aggressor, but it was to be his teammate Muhammad Nur Aiman Bin Rosli who would find himself in the right move.
The Malaysian talent was part of a six-man group that went clear of the peloton with a little over 25km in the legs. Joining Rosli up the road was Nils Sinschek (Parkhotel Valkenburg), Kane Richards (Roojai Insurance), Yihau Fan (Bodywrap), Chaohua Xue (Hainan Wuzhishan) - the King of the Mountains classification leader - and Stephen Clancy (Novo Nordisk), but the latter was dropped in quick order.
With Clancy shown a fresh pair of heels, the five-man breakaway kicked on and began to establish its lead as the race hugged the South China Sea. Between Longgunzhen and Shangenzhen, their gap grew steadily to beyond a minute, with the majority of the peloton content with the race situation. That is except for Victor Ocampo (Team Medellín-EPM) and Vasili Bialiauski (Li Ning Star), both of whom looked to bridge the gap in separate lone furrows.
Bialiauski made the most concerted effort to jump across to the front of the race, but his gap to the breakaway hung at around 50 seconds for well over 10km, before he finally waved the white flag and succumbed to the pack. With an hour of racing on the clock, the breakaway had ridden 46.4km and held a comfortable 1:45 advantage over the peloton.
Once the time gap to the five-man breakaway had neared two minutes, a sense of panic set in for those in the peloton who felt an opportunity missed. Li Ning Star were desperate to send a representative up the road and curiously, so too were Bodywrap, who already had Yihua Fan at the head of the race.
Luhao Li (Li Ning Star) and Chen Xie (Bodywrap) both gave it a go but to no avail, swiftly followed by their respective teammates Shuai Lian and Shuyang Pang. Lian and Pang’s attack was more fruitful and drew Li back into the fold, alongside He Jiang of Hengxiang Cycling Team. With their four-man group established, the chasers took to the task of closing the deficit to the breakaway.
At one point standing at almost two minutes, the breakaway’s advantage soon began to fall and after 70km of racing, the four chasers sat 1:10 in arrears, with the peloton a further 1:30 down the road.
However, initial encouragement soon turned sour for the chasers, with the four riders finding themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place. Content to see the back of Jiang, Li, Lian and Pang, the peloton relaxed and allowed the breakaway a healthy advantage of over three minutes, whilst the chasers only floundered in the afternoon heat. After 80km, the gap between the break and the chasers stood at 1:25, their efforts so far without reward.
Some 10km later, the chasing group of four sat up and accepted their fate, rejoining the peloton that rolled along 2:48 behind the breakaway.
Intermediate sprints and a category-2 ascent to fight for
After a lull in proceedings, Rosli won the first intermediate sprint at the 124km-marker. Fan was second over the line in Binglang Community and Sinschek took third place, with the gap to the peloton narrowed to 1:50. There was another curious attack from the pack, with Tarteletto-Isorex’s Timothy Dupont nipping off the front alongside Manuele Tarozzi (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizané) and Miltiadis of Terengganu Cycling Team, but their jaunt was quickly squashed.
The Niuling Mountain Summit KOM was the next objective on the road with a little over 40km to ride, standing at 5.9% for 2km. Earlier in the day, it looked as though polka-dot jersey wearer Xue had played a good hand in penetrating the breakaway, but he was dropped shortly before the start of the climb. Instead, it was Richards and Fan who emerged the strongest on the climb, crossing the peak in first and second place, respectively. Sinschek was the first man across the line again, whilst Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Qazaqstan) claimed fourth from the peloton and Jambaljamts Sainbayer (Burgos-BH) rounded out the top five.
Shortly after the descent, the final three riders from the breakaway were caught and the race was back together again for a brief spell. This ceasefire lasted only lasted for a moment, before José Manuel Díaz (Burgos-BH), Filippo Magli (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizané), Théo Delacroix (St Michel-Mavic-Auber93), Róbigzon Leandro Oyola (Team Medellín-EPM), Kuicheng Wang (Bodywrap) and Luke Mudgway (Li Ning Star) went off in search of intermediate sprint points.
The six-man breakaway quickly developed a 12-second gap and contested the intermediate sprint with 26.3km to ride. Mudgway took the maximum points, followed by Magni in second place and Díaz in third, off the back of which Magni attacked alone. The Italian sensed an opportunity to chase his first career victory and with the rest of the breakaway caught by the peloton, Magni pressed on.
Martin Laas and team ride sprint finish to perfection
What started as an advantage of 13 seconds quickly grew to 48 seconds and for a couple of kilometres, fans of the 25-year-old could start to believe. It was not to be, though. Into the final 10km of the stage, the likes of Corratec-Vini Fantini and Burgos-BH sent their riders to the front of the bunch and the gap to Magni crumbled. The VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizané rider battled bravely and held a 10-second gap for what seemed an age, but Magni was caught just short of the 5km to go banner.
St Michel-Mavic-Auber93 led the peloton under the flamme rouge, but the French team would be outmanoeuvred by Ferei Quick-Panda Podium Mongolia inside the final 350m. The Mongolian side burst to the front through Mihkel Räim, who found the right line and carried his teammate Martin Laas in the wheel.
Under Räim’s guidance, Laas could wait until 175m from the line before opening up his sprint and taking the victory. A job well done by the team on their XDS Cup Tour of Hainan debut.
"XDS Cup"2024 The 15th Tour of Hainan, It is jointly organized by the General Administration of Sport ofChina, the People’s Government of Hainan Province, hosted by Chinese Cycling Association, Department of Tourism, Culture, Radio, Television and Sports of Hainan Province, Sanya City People’s Government, Qionghai City People’sGovernment, Wuzhishan City People’s Government, Lingshui Li Autonomous County People’s Government, Changjiang Li Autonomous County People’s Government, Co-organized by Wanning City People’s Government, Dongfang City People’s Government, Ledong Li Autonomous County People’s Government, Baoting Li and Miao Autonomous County People’s Government, Baisha Li Autonomous County People’s Government, Baoting Li and Miao Autonomous County People’s Government, Hainan Sports Lottery Administration Center, Sports Events Center of Hainan Province, jointly operated by Hainan Radio, Film and Television Media Group Co., Ltd. and Tour of Hainan International Cycling Race Co., Ltd. , title sponsored by Shenzhen Xidesheng Bicycle Co. , Ltd.
