Sacha Modolo will face the queen stage of the Tour of Hainan wearing the leader's jersey.

The rider from Team LAMPRE-MERIDA retained the 1st place in the general classification after the 4th position obtained in the 7th stage of the Chinese race (Sanya-Dongfang, 167,5 km), having been beaten by Thomel (1st), Mareczko (2nd) and Palini (3rd). It is the first time in the Tour of Hainan that LAMPRE-MERIDA is not on the podium, after 2 victories, 3 second places and 1 third position.

The race was led until 4 km to go by 4 attackers, who reached a a maximum advantage of 4'20".cOnce the breakaway was neutralized, the peloton approached the final sprint, but today the duo Ferrari-Modolo was not perfect so Modolo had to try to recover on the right side of the road. He succeeded in reaching the front positions, but he could not achieve a place on the podium.

"Today we were not precise as we used to be in the past stages, Roberto and I were not in the front as it was necessary in the final 800 meters. It's something that sometimes happens in the massive sprints,2 Modolo explained. I tried to recover on the right side, I overtook many riders and I almost reached Thomel, but ten more meters would have been necessary.

“[Roberto] Ferrari and I got a bit lost and too far behind with 1km to go. It was an interesting sprint. We were six on the same line at the end!

"I'll be at the start of the queen stage wearing the leader jersey, I'll try to honor it even if I'm aware of the fact that it will be very difficult to achieve this goal because the course is not suitable to my characteristics.

“I’m well. Yesterday I tested myself in the first hills and I got confirmation that I can climb. Tomorrow I’ll try to hold on. I’ll defend myself. The best outcome would be to keep the yellow jersey. There’ll be a fierce competition with all the GC riders but I haven’t said my last word yet.”