Amid a crash near the finish line that impacted several riders, including teammate Joonas Henttala (FIN), Novo Nordisk's Martijn Verschoor captured his fourth consecutive top-ten finish at the Tour of Hainan.

Saturday marked another long, flat stage, stretching 191.9-km from Chengmai to Quiongzhong, China. A breakaway of three riders formed early, but was caught at 30 kilometers to go, setting up a field sprint to the finish line. While riders jockeyed for position and Team Novo Nordisk rode together to position Verschoor, a crash took out several riders, including Hentalla. Benjamin Giraud (Team Marseille 13-KTM) crossed the finish line first and Verschoor managed to finish in 10th. Both Hentalla and James Glasspool (AUS), who crashed earlier in the day, did not finish the race.

“Today’s finish was an uphill sprint, which is ideal for me and I should have been able to finish better, but there was mass chaos and a big crash right before the line,” said Verschoor. “I was able to to avoid the crash and still finish in the top 10, but now I’m looking ahead to a better result tomorrow.”

Benjamin Giraud (Team Marseille 13-KTM) sprinted to the win ahead of Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida) and Andrea Palini (Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team).

Team Novo Nordisk, the world’s first all-diabetes professional cycling team, continues racing at the Tour of Hainan on Sunday’s Stage 6, covering 174.1-km, from Qiongzhong to Sanya.