The star rider of this year’s Tour of Hainan is Sacha Modolo. The 28 year-old Italian who finished second in stage 2 behind his compatriot Andrea Palini is a double stage winner at the Giro d’Italia in May. In 2015, he finally reached the goal he had in mind since his brilliant professional debut when he took fourth place in the great classic Milan-Sanremo with Colnago-CSF in 2010.

As a young pro, he didn’t complete his first two Giro d’Italia (in 2010 and 2011). He came fourth in stage 13 won by Mark Cavendish in 2012. He moved up to second in the conclusive stage also won by Cavendish in 2013, after which he was physically mature enough to step up to the World Tour so he joined Lampre-Merida in 2014. Instead of riding the Giro that year, he lined up at the Tour de France but was forced to pull out in stage 2 due to injury but his come-back at the Giro has been a successful one with victories in stage 13 in Lido di Jesolo and stage 17 in Lugano this year.

“It’s been a long season and I’m pleased with my achievements”, said Modolo who also claimed stage 5 in the Tour of Turkey. “I resumed racing in January with the Tour of San Luis in Argentina and I’m still racing here in China at the end of October. Initially, I was a reserve for this race. But I still have good form so I’m willing to come up with at least one stage win. I got boxed in in the first sprint [in Xinglong] and I launched my second sprint too early [in Wenchang] but I got positive signals for making it in the remaining seven stages.”

Modolo is hungry for more as he hasn’t won a race since the Giro despite interesting top 10 placing at the Criterium du Dauphiné, Tour of Poland, Eneco Tour, GP Fourmies and Gran Piemonte. Moreover, providing that he doesn’t pull out before, he’ll reach the number of 100 days of racing for the 2015 cycling season on stage 7 from Sanya to Dongfang. He eyes 102 at the end of the Tour of Hainan, which will be his last race this year. In average, pro cyclists compete for 80 days per year with very few exceptions like Australia’s Adam Hansen who exceeds 100 because he rides and completes all three Grand Tours [since 2012].