Coming into the final day of the Tour of Hainan, the general classification was tight and from the drop of the start flag the ninth stage at the Tour of Hainan was a big fight for precious seconds.

With bonus seconds offered in two intermediate sprints along the 119 kilometers, Trek Factory Racing was at risk to drop down in GC, and after the two sprints were contested they had lost time to a few riders behind them in the classification.

“With the race’s situation after yesterday, everybody today was looking to update their classements,” explained Adriano Baffi. “So from the start it was full gas, after 6km it was the first mountain sprint, and after 36km the first sprint where Buts, a rider just behind us in the GC, took 1 second. In the second sprint another rider, Gavazzi, also close to our GC, took 2 seconds and Buts again 1 second. After those 2 sprints, a break of 3 went away but were caught before the final mountain sprint. So again it was a logical sprint finish, even if on the final KOM some sprinters were dropped.”

The team, unable to snag a bonus second or two in the intermediate sprints, focused on the finish with Fabio Silvestre and the Portuguese rider came through with a brilliant second place, his second podium of the race and seventh top ten finish in nine stages.

But, as fate would have it, a large crash with four kilometers remaining negated the bonus seconds as some of the top GC-placed riders were caught in the melee. When the overall was tallied Julien Bernard maintained his 6th place, Szymon Rekita moved into 9th, and Leonardo Basso slipped into 10th. 

So often this season Trek Factory Racing found themselves on the wrong side of luck, and finally in the last race of the season good fortune turned their way.

“At 4km to go there was a big crash and some riders in the GC were involved,” continued Baffi. “The sprint was with around 45 riders. We knew that today was another big fight day, and for this reason we talked a lot about this in the meeting. To keep our positions we earned yesterday we needed to fight against a breakaway, bonus sprints, attacks, and in the final sprint. During the day we lost some places due to the bonifications, but at the end with the crash we won back our places with Julien, and even better, we moved Rekita and Basso into the top 10 of the GC. Fabio suffered all day, he was tired, but at the end he took another podium, he did a great sprint.”

Sometimes in cycling the results come when least expected and chance often plays a decisive role. After nine stages of which eight finished in bunch sprints, Fabio Silvestre capped it all with his best finish. And, after losing GC places to bonus seconds on the road Wednesday, the team finished safely ahead of the late crash to grab three spots in the top ten GC and finish off nine days’ effort with some welcomed good luck.

“It was a very good Tour of Hainan. We didn’t come away with a victory but thinking of the five guys we had here we did very well.  The guys fought hard every day, and Fabio did well against some very fast sprinters. We leave China with a positive feeling, and it’s a nice way to end the season.”