Stagiaire Shines at Tour of Hainan

28 October 2016

Race: Tour of Hainan, Stage 7

Start/Finish: Wuzhishan / Sanya, China

Distance: 127.4 kilometers

Sanya, China — Team Novo Nordisk stagiaire Quentin Valognes showed promising form on Friday’s stage 7 of Tour of Hainan, sprinting to a solid 12th place.

The 127.4-km stage featured a hilly profile with minor climbs at the start and mostly terrain flat towards the end. A break of seven riders was able to go clear soon after the start and eventually build a maximum gap of 3:00 before a full-gas peloton endeavored to hunt them down.

“Today was the first stage where the breakaway made a big effort to resist the peloton,” said Valognes, “so with 20-25km to go, it was full gas. And since the pace was so high fewer riders were able to make the sprint, which I liked.”

With 5km remaining, the peloton was back together, and the riders prepared for another animated sprint finish.

Max Walscheid (Team Giant – Alpecin) edged out Brenton Jones (Drapac Professional Cycling) to claim another stage win, and Valognes finished best for Team Novo Nordisk at 12th.

“My more experienced teammates gave me a lot of advice before and during the race,” Valognes said. “It’s good stuff and it really motivates me. Every guy on the team won’t hesitate to sacrifice himself for a teammate, and that gives me a lot of confidence. I’m also glad to see that I am recovering well, because it’s the first time that I’ve raced at this long of a distance, for 9 days and in a tropical climate.”

Team Novo Nordisk, the world’s first all-diabetes pro cycling team, continues racing tomorrow at the penultimate stage of Tour of Hainan, the 165.8-km stage 8 from Sanya to Qiongzhong.