Tour of Hainan: Antomarchi takes overall victory

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The final stage of the ninth edition of the Tour of Hainan was a spectacular one with a trio of attackers resisting the return of the peloton in the finale. Dutchman Wouter Wippert of Drapac won ahead of Adrian Kurek (CCC Polsat) and Taras Voropayev (Vino4ever). while Julien Antomarchi became the first Frenchman to claim the Tour of Hainan overall.

“Firstly, I was racing for third place in the points classification,” Wippert explained. “I needed to score more points so instead of waiting for the final sprint, I decided to go away before the first intermediate sprint. We [the top three riders at the finishing line plus Ho Burr from Hong Kong] almost got caught after that but someone stopped pulling the bunch and we stayed away. I heard we only had a 20-second lead with 2km to go but we kept going. The Kazakh rider attacked 500 metres from the line. I was the second guy to follow and I sprinted with 250 metres to go.”

“I think we have underestimated the breakaway a little bit,” said Lampre-Merida’s Niccolo Bonifazio who remains, however, the big revelation of the Tour of Hainan, having bagged three stage wins and the points classification. “In the last few kilometres, the guys at the front rode really strongly. During the stage, we shared the turns with La Pomme Marseille and we did all the work at the end but it was still not enough.”

Wippert was lucky to be away with Kurek, a Polish rouleur who always gives it all in the escapes. “With the headwind in the finale, I didn’t have any possibility to ride away solo,” said the tall rider from CCC Polsat. “It was really not easy to survive and resist the return of the peloton. I was ahead with 400 metres to go. I took risks but I did all I could for my team. Anyway, there was not much more I could do against a pure sprinter like Wippert.”

This was Wippert’s ninth win of the year, most of them having been claimed in Asia, despite a break of two months in the middle of the season due to illness. “I came back for the Tour of China and the Tour of Hainan,” the Dutchman said. “It feels so good to win the last race of the season. There’s good racing in Asia. It’s different from Europe but it’s not easy at all to win. I had signed with [Australian Pro Continental team] Drapac for two years and I’m happy to stay with the team next year. Hopefully, we’ll come back to the Tour of Hainan.”

Another rider who’d really like to come back to the Chinese island is Antomarchi but at this stage he’s got no guarantee of having a contract with a professional cycling team in 2015. “This is my first ever victory in a stage race overall,” the 30-year-old Frenchman noted. “It’s a great one, in a very well organized HC race. This is a big step in my career and I hope it’s not the end.

“I wasn’t a favourite before the start because of the three Pro Teams (Astana, Belkin and Lampre-Merida) in contention and I was also not sure of my own shape. I was kind of lucky to win stage 4 as logically the bunch should have caught me but it gave me the time bonus I needed to secure the lead in the queen stage. Tactically, we’ve worked really well as a team. It’s a surprise that I’ve won but it’s a nice surprise.”

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