Tour of Hainan: Mareczko strikes again to win stage 3

Jakub Mareczko of Wilier Triestina took his second stage victory at the Tour of Hainan and extended his lead in the overall classification on Jon Aberasturi (Ukyo) to 11 seconds, while Australian team IsoWhey Sports-Swisswellness made the podium again, this time with Anthony Giacoppo. It was Italian sprinter's second consecutive stage win.

"We're only one third into the Tour of Hainan but I feel that we've already used up a lot of energy," Mareczko said after his win in Chengmai.

"It wasn't a very easy stage. It took us less than three and half hours to cover 155km. There was a lot of wind and the course was always up and down."

Races are often shaped by a breakaway before a chase and the final bunch sprint but the Wilier Triestina team faced a series of attacks during the stage.

Sergey Grechyn (Hainan Jilun), Stefan Bakker (Monkey Town), Ma Guangtong (Hengxiang) and Alexis Cartier (H&R Block) made the first move but it was caught after 18 kilometres. Steven Cuesta (Hainan) and Liu Jiangpeng (Hengxiang) went clear before the first intermediate sprint at km 31, where Marco Zanotti (Monkey Town) gave a strong indication that he was racing for the overall classification rather than stages victories this time.

Liu moved into the lead of the Best Asian rider classification as he won that sprint.

"This is my sixth Tour of Hainan but my first time on the honor roll because in the past, my teammates Wang Meiyin, Ma Guangtong and Zhao Jingbiao were always taking those prizes and I worked for them," the Chinese rider declared.

"But I'm very happy that Wang joined a WorldTour team [Bahrain-Merida] and I hope he succeeds at that level. I also wish Zhao a prompt recovery after his crash."

After 60km of racing Joe Cooper (IsoWhey Sports-Swisswellness), Mykhaylo Kononenko (Kolss), Benjamin Hill (Attaque Gusto), Cartier and Ma again opened a gap. Kolss chased them down ahead of the only KOM prize of the day at km 105. Hill tried to contest it from the bunch but Benjamin Prades (Ukyo) won it, with Buts third.

"I had tired legs," Hill explained. "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."

Emil Liepins (Delko Marseille), Luke Mudgway (RTS-Monton), Marc De Maar (Hengxiang), Jordan Cheyne (Jelly Belly) and Zanotti made another break with 50km to go. Liepins and Zanotti were in theory Mareczko's rivals for the sprint but they had little hopes of beating him, so they chose another way to try to win the stage. Liepins, Mudgway and Cheyne were the last attackers caught with six kilometres to go.

"Like yesterday, my teammates kept the breakaways under control," Mareczko explained.

"In the finale, with Bardiani and Ukyo, we put the peloton in one lane. [Eugert] Zhupa took me up to the front again and I managed to sprint on the front so 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."

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