Just like a year ago, stage 3 of the Tour of Fuzhou was won by Dutchman Ivar Slik (Monkey Town-A bloc), who made the most of a seven-man breakaway in the crosswinds to outclass Russian pursuiter Kirill Sveshnikov.
Charles Page (Canyon DHB) took third place for the second straight day ahead of Chinese revelation Miao Chengshuo, a time triallist in the making from Hengxiang.
"Our front group of seven was strong and the cooperation was excellent. We had a maximum lead of three minutes but we managed to keep it until the end," Slik explained.
"The Russian rider [Sveshnikov] looked very strong during the ride but I also felt good and in the finale I had a lot of confidence in myself. Tactically, I did a good race. After a hard race like today, I normally can sprint well. I’m happy that I made it.
"It’s nice to come back here to Fuzhou and win again," Slik added. "I’m not a sprinter and I’m not a climber so there aren’t many opportunities for riders like me. This is my fourth win in a category-1 pro race this year. I’m very happy with that. China suits me well, I think."
The 26-year-old hails from Bergen in the outskirts of Alkmaar. His parents live on the same street as Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix winner Niki Terpstra, who’s trying to get Slik, his training partner, onto Total Direct Energie for next year.
Another rider who seems to have a good future is Briton Charles Pages, who moved into the lead of the points classification while Ilya Davidenok (Shenzhen XDS) retained the overall lead ahead of stage 4 in Lianjiang. The 20 year old from Amersham, Buckinghamshire, came third for the second straight day but in a very different way, as he broke away one day after using his sprinting skills.
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"I didn’t expect it today," Page told Cyclingnews at the finish. "Yesterday was nice because we got the first win [with Rory Townsend] as well. It was a great team ride yesterday but today it was just quite nice because I didn’t expect to go all the way to the line from the breakaway and to pick up some points from the intermediate sprints as well.
"I just couldn’t go with him [Sveshnikov] when he went at the end because I had to go for the sprints earlier on. He was too strong. I would have liked to contest the win but that’s the way the race went and it’s still a nice day of racing for me."
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