Williams Stars in Tour of Taihu Lake Breakaway

Race: Tour of Taihu Lake, Stage 6

Start/Finish: Yancheng Park / Mingdu Haoge international Hotel, China

Distance: 117.1 kilometers 

Mingdu Haoge international Hotel, China — Team Novo Nordisk’s Chris Williams celebrated his 35th birthday on Friday by starring the day’s main breakaway at Tour of Taihu Lake.

The 117.1-km got off to a fast start, and Williams and three other riders managed to pull away soon after the start gun. However, the peloton was eager to keep them within range and only granted the leaders a maximum advantage of 2:00.

“Today was the last flat stage of the year for me,” Williams said, “so I thought I should have a crack at a breakaway. The winds made it hard, and of course, Willier was always going to work to bring it back together for a sprint.”

The Team Novo Nordisk squad struggled in the sprint, where Jakub Mareczko (Wilier – Southeast) won his third stage of the race, and staigiarie Quentin Valognes finished best for the team at 32nd.

Team Novo Nordisk, the world’s first all-diabetes pro cycling team, concludes its 2016 racing season tomorrow at the Tour of Taihu Lake finale, a 130.6-km stage from Entrance of Chishanhu Lake to Maoshan.

Gallery:

Results: 

• 1st: Jakub Mareczko (Wilier – Southeast): 2:40:58
• 2nd: Nicolas Marini (Nippo – Vini Fantini): “
• 3rd: Eduard Michael Grosu (Nippo – Vini Fantini): “

Team Novo Nordisk Stage 4 Results:

• 32nd: Quentin Valognes: same time as Mareczko
• 39th: Martijn Verschoor: 6^th: same time as Mareczko
• 48th: Rik van IJzendoorn: same time as Mareczko
• 84th: Chris Williams: 83^rd: same time as Mareczko
• 114th: Gerd de Keijzer: 0:17 behind Mareczko

(Photos: ©Anne Wu)