Germany’s Tino Thömel of RTS-Santic emerged as the surprised winner of the bunch gallop in stage 7 of the tenth Tour of Hainan as he was taking part in a different sprint than the Italian trio formed of Jakub Mareczko, second, Andrea Palini, third, and Sacha Modolo, fourth. They were battling on the right side of the road in Dongfang while the 27 year old from Berlin made his way to the left in a very tight finale that required the help of the photo-finish.

The beginning of the 165-kilometer stage was very lively. Many riders tried to pull away and it took time for the early break had been formed. After six riders had been reeled in, Jarosław Marycz (CCC Sprandi went clear alongside Stepan Astafyev (Vino 4ever), Jingbiao Zhao (Hengxiang Cycling Team) and Sergiy Lagkuti (Ukraine). They built up a 4-minute lead.

Relatively early – around at the halfway point – Zhao got dropped. In the end, Astafyev couldn’t keep up with the fastest riders in the escape Marycz and Lagkuti. The duo tried to outsmart and outpace the bunch, but it was not an easy task.

With 13 kilometers to go the gap was still more than 1:30. The peloton did the correct math and with only 3 kilometers remaining reeled the break in. Again it was all about the sprinters in the finale.  Tino Thomel (RTS-Santic Racing Team) claimed the win, while Jakub Mareczko (Southeast) and Andrea Palini (Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team – Al Ahli Club) rounded out the podium.

Stage 8 is the queen stage to Wuzhishan where the likes of Andrey Zeits and Valerio Agnoli (Astana), Paco Mancebo (Skydive Dubai), Julien El Farès and Rémy Di Gregorio (Marseille 13-KTM), Matthew Busche and Julien Bernard (Trek), Valerio Conti (Lampre-Merida) and Wang Meiyin (Hengxiang) are expected to fight for GC but most of them have a deficit of 39 seconds to recover from Modolo.