Tour of Hainan: Mareczko strikes again

Image 1 of 3

Jakub Mareczko (Wilier Triestina) has struck again at the Tour of Hainan in China, using his fast, low-tuck sprinting style inspired by Caleb Ewan to hit the line first in Sanya after 219km of racing on rolling roads. The Italian again beat Martin Laas (Delko Marseille Provence), with Marco Maronese (Bardiani-CSF) third.

The victory makes him the most successful pro rider in 2017 along with Quick-Step Floors stars Marcel Kittel and Fernando Gaviria, all of them having won 14 races. Mareczko remains the overall race leader but the riders face the all-important mountain stage to Wuzhistan on Friday.

"I knew the finish in Sanya very well because I won here two years ago," Mareczko told Cyclingnews in the southern city known for being the holiday destination of China's Paradisiacal island. "It's nice to win here again. In the meantime, I've won races in different parts of the world but mostly in China where I've found flat courses that suit me. I'm happy to reach the same number of victories as Gaviria and Kittel, but their wins are at a higher level than mine.

"Being in a smaller team to theirs, I take part in smaller races too [except for the Giro d'Italia] but it's an encouraging achievement for me and my team, considering that we're trying to improve also for more demanding races."

Stage 6 was much slower affair than the preceding one. Alexis Cartier (H&R Block) attacked from the gun, followed by Mykhaylo Kononenko (Kolss) and Joris Blokker (Monkey Town). Paolo Simion (Bardiani CSF) tried to bridge the gap but didn't make it. It wasn't a fast and crazy first beginning this time as just 40.8km were covered in the first hour of racing. But the Wilier Triestina team was pacing the bunch at around four minutes behind the leading trio. Kononenko won all three intermediate sprints and returned to the peloton after the third one at kilometre 129.

"We think he and other guys from our team can do well in the overall ranking," said King of the Mountain Vitaly Buts of Ukrainian outfit Kolss. Cartier dropped Blokker off to continue solo with 32 kilometres to go while a counter attack was formed by Joab Schneiter (Swiss national team), Gian Friesecke (Vorarlberg) and Xue Fuwen (Mitchelton-Scott).

"Had I stayed in the bunch, I would have been bored," said Cartier, a French Canadian from Montreal who has been on the offensive every single day since the beginning of the Tour of Hainan. "I also need to race aggressively to have a chance of winning. I'll never win a sprint or an uphill finish. I believed the breakaway could work today because of the Wilier Triestina riders being tired and the change of direction of wind on the course. With a tailwind at the end, we had a few more chances than usual. I thought I could win until 10km to go."

Cartier, Schneiter and Friesecke were reeled in with 3.5km to go and Delko Marseille seized command of the peloton in the last 2km. "The previous days I took Mareczko's wheel or somebody else's but today we planned to go with our own train," runner up Laas explained. "I thought the way to beat was maybe to launch the sprint in first position but we missed one guy and we went a little bit early so it was too long. Also, today, I actually didn't have the legs to beat Mareczko. He sprinted so fast that I didn't even consider challenging him in the last few metres anymore."

Mareczko was almost out of energy at the time of raising his hands up in the air. "Tomorrow it'll be a hard stage and I'm getting tired because I've been racing hard for three weeks," he said.

Full Results