After due to Dér Zsolt’s and Francesc Zurita’s sprint finishes Team Vorarlberg was on first place in the team category in the course of the first four stages, the fifth of all in all nine stages of Tour of Hainan belonged to Patrick Jäger.

The 22 year old from Austria got awarded as most aggressive rider – after an exciting escape that was ended only a few kilometers away from the finish line by the sprinters’ teams. A performance that his teammate Patrick Schelling took up on the next stage. On the last ascent of the 167 kilometers of this stage, Schelling escaped on his STEVENS Xenon together with four other riders and finished fifth, only 34 seconds behind stage winner Matej Maoric of Team Lampre-Merida. This way he fought his way to fourth place overall – and got very close to the podium.

Podium within reach for Schelling
A position he managed to defend on stage 7. On its 127 very fast kilometers his team mates Dér Zsolt and Fran Zurita performed very well, too: places seven and eight, they finished together with Schelling. Therefore, this stage ended with three Team Vorarlberg riders in the top ten – despite the competition of mostly higher-rated teams of Pro Continental and Worldtour category in this tour of the highest category (Haute Category).

The finish of 165 k long eighth stage was a blast. Due to great teamwork Schelling was very well positioned and increased speed at the end of the race together with overall leader Alexey Lutsenko (Astana). He could not keep the lead until the finish line, but due to a crash of third overall, Matej Mahoric, Schelling moved up to only 13 seconds to the podium.

Shorter, but tough and successful
This meant some extra motivation for a spectacular finale that got shortened due to floods. The stage was reduced to 88 kilometers. Team Delko-Marseille brought some additional excitement to the stage when they attacked, but Dér Zsolt, Sergio Sousa and Patrick Jäger kept the situation under control for their leader Schelling at any time.

The reward for their work: Patrick Schelling finished forth, very close to the podium positions (+13 second behind overall third Matej Mohoric), with less than one minute behind overall winner Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Pro Team) – after more than 1.500 race kilometers and 35 hours of riding time. Very well positioned as well: Dér Zsolt as seventh overall and the whole Continental team on place 8 overall of all in all 19 teams. Results