Lampre-MERIDA confirmed its constant presence on the podium in the Tour of Hainen and Sacha Modolo reaffirmed his leadership in the overall standings at the end of the 6th stage.

As in all previous stages, it was a flat stage for the fast riders. The sprint was set up by Lampre-MERIDA, with Cattaneo and Xu Gang doing a relentless pursuit behind the attackers.

Once the sprint started, the sprint preparation by the blue-fuchsia-green team was excellent. Ferrari began his action with 300m to go. Modolo went 150 meters from the finish, but the sprinter was surprised by the wind. The Italian fadedand had to surrender to restock Mareczko and Palini.

The blue-fuchsia-green captain can console himself with the defense of the yellow and green jerseys. He now has a 9-second advantage over Palini.

“There’s not much to explain”, Modolo commented. “I sprinted like the other times, starting 200 metres before the line, but I didn’t know there would be a head wind to finish with. I was surprised. I feel sorry for my team after the amount of work they’ve done.”

"It is too bad that we failed to finalize the work to catch the breakaway with a successful effort," stressed sports director Simone Pedrazzini. "The goal was to look for another victory: in the absence of other teams to take the initiative when the attackers took off, we have taken on the burden of making the pace of the peloton.  The sprint was done with the right timing. Unfortunately the wind came from the front on the final straight, becoming a major obstacle for Sacha."