Stage 2 | The “XDS Cup” 16th Tour of Hainan 2025 ,the CHINA GLORY-MENTECH CONTINENTAL CYCLING TEAM Performed Impressively, with VAHTRA Norman Taking over the Yellow Jersey, and GIDICH Yevgeni Donning the Blue Jersey
On April 8, 2025, the second stage of The “XDS Cup” 16th Tour of Hainan 2025 took place between Qionghai, Wanning, and Lingshui. After intense competition, Dusan Rajovic from the Solution Tech Vini Fantini won the stage in a group sprint, followed by CHIA BERMUDEZ Luis Carlos from the HUANSHENG VONOA TAISHAN Sport Team and VAHTRA Norman from the CHINA GLORY-MENTECH CONTINENTAL CYCLING TEAM, who secured second and third places respectively. The Asian Best Rider jersey was awarded to GIDICH Yevgeni from the CHINA GLORY-MENTECH CONTINENTAL CYCLING TEAM, the King of the Mountain polka-dot jersey was won by VAN ENGELEN Adne from the TERENGGANU CYCLING TEAM, the Sprinter's green jersey remained with MALUCELLI Matteo from the XDS ASTANA TEAM, and the yellow jersey was taken over by VAHTRA Norman from the CHINA GLORY-MENTECH CONTINENTAL CYCLING TEAM.
The second stage covered a distance of 178.1 kilometers, starting from the Qionghai Municipal Square, passing through Wanning, and ending in Lingshui. There were two intermediate sprint points at 23.5 km and 124 km, and a Category 2 climb at 136 km with a gradient of 5.9%. The route was relatively flat, allowing riders to showcase their superior cycling skills while presenting the beautiful scenery of Hainan's island tourism highway to the spectors.
At 10:00 AM, 136 riders completed the pre-race sign-in and departed from the Qionghai Municipal Square. Early in the race, the first intermediate sprint point saw PAREDES Wilmar from TEAM MEDELLIN, LOPEZ DE ABETXUKO Andoni from the EUSKALTEL-EUSKADI team, and SALBY Alexander from the LI NING STAR take the top three spots. Subsequently, four riders attempted to break away but were caught by the peloton after just ten kilometers.
At the 45 km mark, a genuine breakaway group formed consisting of SINSCHEK Nils from the Parkhotel Valkenburg team, COOPER William from the ST GEORGE CONTINENTAL TEAM, VAN ENGELEN Adne from the TERENGGANU CYCLING TEAM, and MONK Cyrus from the FNIX-SCOM-HENGXIANG CYCLING TEAM. These four riders stayed ahead of the main group for a long time, with their maximum time gap reaching 1 minute and 50 seconds. The top spots at the second intermediate sprint point at 124 km and the Category 2 climb at 136 km were also contested among them.
With 30 kilometers remaining, three riders from the breakaway group were caught by the peloton, leaving only SINSCHEK Nils from the PARKHOTEL VALKENBURG team continuing to ride strongly until he was caught with 15 kilometers to go. He also won the Best Compative Rider award for the second consecutive day, thanks to his over 120 km breakaway effort. Although several riders attempted to break away again, they were all caught by the peloton with 7 kilometers to go. The race then came down to a group sprint, where RAJOVIC Dusan from the SOLUTION TECH VINI FANTINI emerged victorious, followed by CHIA BERMUDEZ Luis Carlos from the HUANSHENG VONOA TAISHAN SPORT TEAM and VAHTRA Norman from the CHINA GLORY-MENTECH CONTINENTAL CYCLING TEAM, who secured second and third place respectively.
In a post-race interview, stage winner RAJOVIC Dusan said, "The final kilometer was quite fast. I'm glad team leader did a good job to put me on the front. I'm glad to win the stage here in tour of Hainan and it's super nice and good motivation for the next stages”.
VAHTRA Norman from the CHINA GLORY-MENTECH CONTINENTAL CYCLING TEAM also took over the yellow jersey from Matteo, thanks to his consistent performance over the two days. In a post-race interview, he said, “I have never been on the podium in such a high-level race before. These two days have been incredible. Probably tomorrow is going to be very open race because there is a climb. My teammate GIDICH Yevgeni performes well, and maybe can climb better than me. We will see after tomorrow stage. If I can keep the yellow jersey after tomorrow, then there is more probability that I can defend the yellow jersey until the end of the week.”
Tomorrow, the third stage will take place, which will be the most challenging mountain stage of this tour, covering 212.6 kilometers. Riders will face the highest climbing on Hainan Island, the Wuzhishan. Let's look forward to another exciting competition.
