The 10th edition of the Tour of Hainan opened with a short 76-kilometer race Tuesday, raced on flat, wide and fast roads and as expected it ended in a bunched peloton sprinting for dibs on taking the first victory and leader’s jersey in the first of nine stages.

Fabio Silvestre finished in third place behind winner Andrea Palini (Skydive Dubai - Al Ahli Club) and Roberto Ferrari (Lampre-Merida). Palini will wear the leader's jersey into stage two Wednesday.

“We know that Silvestre is fast, he's a sprinter and has won six big races at the continental level. Also in the China 1 race he was twice second, so we know that he can do something here in the sprint finishes," explained director Adriano Baffi. "We don’t have guys here with the experience for the lead out in fast finishes, but Fabio was happy that the team helped him until five kilometers to go."

Trek Factory Racing brought three trainees to the Tour of Hainan (Leonardo Basso, Julien Bernard, Szymon Rekita), a team that has arrived in China for the final race of 2015 more for gaining valuable experience and not one expected to fight in the overall classification, and stage wins will be the goal, albeit not an easy one to achieve with Lampre-Merida bringing sprinters Ferrari and Sacha Modolo. To kick off the first day with a podium was a morale boost for the team that is here to race hard every stage.

“The third place is not first, but for us it was a great start to help give us confidence for the rest of the race, and a podium is always good. We have three stagiaires here - okay Julien [Bernard] has signed for next year, but he is still young and new, and these guys are here to gain some more racing experience. Rekita escaped in the first part of the race - all the guys are ready to race hard every day. The podium today was a good way to start – it has raised our morale," Baffi said.

During the nine days, there are plenty of stages suited to the fastmen and the queen stage arrives the penultimate day with a summit finish that will be decisive for the general classification. Trek Factory Racing may not have brought their A-team, but after a podium on day one, the six teammates that are racing the around the Hainan island have definitely brought their A-game.

“The general plan of the team is that on the flat stages we will help Fabio for the sprint. And on the stages with climbing, especially the eighth stage,  it could be good for Basso, Bernard and Busche. We will try as always for a win. And after today with Fabio third, why not? Everything is always possible," Baffi concluded.