Tour of Hainan stage1 Report Tour of Hainan, stage 1, Chengmai-Chengmai, 85.6km Hofland opens his record book in Hainan As Belkin Pro Cycling was tipped as the hot favorite of the eighth Tour of Hainan after Astana won the past three editions with Valentin Iglinskiy (twice) and Dimitri Gruzdev, neo pro Moreno Hofland proved predictions right on the first finishing line in Chengmai -- a town renowned for the people's longevity. The 21 year old Dutchman outsprinted Belgian veteran Frédéric Amorison of Crelan-Euphony and enjoyed his first pro victory. It was a short and intense stage with only 85.6km to cover from Chengmai and back. After only fifteen kilometres, the decisive breakaway took shape, comprising fifteen riders: Jos van Emden, Hofland and Tom Leezer (Belkin), Kevin Peeters and Amorison (Crelan-Euphony), Adrian Honkisz (CCC Polsat), Chris Williams (Novonordisk), Fabian Schnaidt (Champion System), José Gonçalves (La Pomme-Marseille), Dario Hernandez (Burgos-BH), William Walker and Darren Lapthorne (Drapac), Mykhailo Kononenko and Volodymyr Zagorodny (Ukraine), Connor McConvey (Synergy Baku). As the bunch never slowed down due to the ambitions of the Chinese teams to bring the escapees back, the time difference never reached two minutes but the peak was recorded at 1.57 with 20km to go. "In the last 50km, riders kept attacking", pre-stage favorite Theo Bos explained. "But no team controlled the pace really. For us, it was a perfect situation with three of our guys at the front. Then I won the bunch sprint, which is also a good sign for the coming days." Being the only team with three riders out of fifteen escapees, Belkin had several cards to play. "They are the strongest team on paper", admitted Amorison. "Belkin is the team to follow. With 6km to go, I attacked and Hofland came across. I knew he was faster than me so I have no regret. It's no surprise to see another rider from Belkin [Leezer] to take third place behind us and there's a high chance for Belkin to dominate the rest of the Tour as well." Hofland had also won the two intermediate sprints. He accumulated 16 seconds bonus, which positions him in a comfortable lead more than one minute ahead of the riders who finished in the bunch. The Tour of Hainan is a UCI 2.HC event contested by cyclists from 31 different countries who will have opportunities to challenge the Belkin team in the remaining eight stages.

• published: 21 Oct 2013
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