Alexey Lutsenko of Astana Pro Team has secured the overall victory of the Tour of Hainan

alexey-lutsenko-of-astana-pro-team-has-secured-the-overall-victory-of-the-tour-of-hainan

Alexey Lutsenko of Astana Pro Team has secured the overall victory of the Tour of Hainan. Max Walscheid of Giant-Alpecin took an impressive fifth stage win.

The last of nine stages was just 88.3 kilometers long with both start and finish in the city of Xinglong. As the route was mostly flat, the pressure was on for sprinters while the overall classification had largely been decided in Saturday’s hilly stage.

The usual suspects showed their faces at the finish with Walscheid once again crossing the line in first place. Italian Roberto Ferrari of Lampre-Merida took second place ahead of Wilier-Southeast-s Rafael Andriato.

“The week has been incredible with five stage victories,” Walscheid said shortly after the stage. “Especially after such a difficult year for me personally, this is a perfect way to close down the season and after a short break start the preparations for next year extra motivated.”

Lutsenko’s top spot in the General Classification was never under threat in the closing stage. The Kazakh maintained his 17-second lead over Lampre-Merida’s Przemyslaw Niemiec whose teammate Matej Mohoric took third place at 44 seconds.

By successfully defending his leader’s jersey until the end, Lutsenko takes his first overall victory in a Hors Category race. Other wins this season were the fifth stage of Paris-Nice and the overall classification of the 1.1 Tour of Almaty.