Peloton Tackles Heat & Distance at Tour of Hainan

29 October 2017

Race: Tour of Hainan, stage 2

Start/Finish: Wanning Xinglong/Haikou, China

Distance: 230 kilometers

HAIKOU, CHINA – Team Novo Nordisk rode the longest stage of the 2017 Tour of Hainan on Sunday, traversing from south to north on a flat, humid day across China’s tropical resort island.

An early breakaway of five riders in search of sprint bonus points held the peloton off for the first hundred kilometers of the day, but with nothing left to contest returned to the main bunch and allowed a second set of riders with fresher legs in the wilting heat and humidity to venture up the road.

Intent on a mass finish, Team Novo Nordisk set to work with the rest of the peloton to close the gap, and with less than 900m to the finish finally reclaimed the last, lone rider of the day.

All Team Novo Nordisk riders finished in the same time as stagewinner Jakub Mareczko of Italy, with Estonia’s Martin Laas and Swiss rider Dylan Page completing the stage two podium.

Reid McClure:

“A really long, hot day. It ended up being pretty fast, and the break got caught halfway through the stage, which made it a little chaotic. That made it really fast coming into the finish with fresh guys at the front.”

Team Novo Nordisk Sport Director Massimo Podenzana:

“This was the longest stage of the Tour, on a nervous parcours with no climbs. The temperature today was very high during the stage, and the guys raced well. Butin the end, everybody paid for the heat and distance.”