IsoWhey-Sports locomotive rider, Joe Cooper, wins Tour of Hainan final stage as Italian rider Jacopo Mosca wins yellow.
The general classification saw some intense performances on today’s finale with Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia’s rider, Mosca, fighting to take home the yellow jersey which is his first one won in a stage race in his professional career.
The 24-year-old pro rider took the jersey from his teammate Jakub Mareczko on stage 7 when he won with a three-second lead over Benjamin Prades from Team UKYO and five seconds over Emils Liepins from Delko-Marseille Provence KTM team.
“It’s been a hard week, we’ve lost three guys and we wanted that top step on the podium with the sprinters and unfortunately they couldn’t deliver,” Cooper, who also won for the second time the award of ‘most active rider’, said.
“I had to come out today and sort of just go about my work, and pretty happy with that,” he added. “I thought those two guys that came across would spoil the day, but they didn’t have too much left so I just kept on riding.”
So just what does @WilierSelleIta‘s @SunJjak think about his overall win at @tourhainan? He told @Eurosport after the race #tourofhainan pic.twitter.com/pm19bsQLQ0
— Aaron S. Lee (@aaronshanelee) November 5, 2017
Cooper, the two-time Australian National Road Series champion, admitted that the stage nine victory is quite important to him because it marks a significant milestone in his cycling career and it’s truly a highlight to the season.
New Zealand champ @joecooperme (@IsoWheySwissWel) steamrolled to first UCI 2.HC stage win at race finale #tourofhainan | @EurosportAUS pic.twitter.com/kx8SxDkrbt
— Aaron S. Lee (@aaronshanelee) November 5, 2017
“This is the icing on my whole season. To win an HC race in the New Zealand champs jersey that’s just such a special thing for me. I’ve worked hard all year and this being my best season to date; hopefully I’m not done yet,”- he said.
Stage nine (finale) results
Joseph Cooper, Isowhey Sports Swisswellness 3:31:16
Emils Liepins, Rietumu Banka – Riga 0:00:01
Andriy Kulyk, Kolss Cycling Team
Dylan Page, Switzerland
Marco Zanotti, Monkey Town Continental Team
Ivar Slik, Monkey Town Continental Team
Lukas Spengler, Switzerland
Polychronis Tzortzakis, Rts – Monton Racing Team
Jon Aberasturi Izaga, Team Ukyo
Mirco Maestri, Bardiani CSF
General classification
Jacopo Mosca (Ita) – 36:41:27
Benjami Prades Reverter (Spa) – 0:00:03
Emils Liepins (Lat) – 0:00:05
Marco Zanotti (Ita) – 0:00:06
Mykhaylo Kononenko (Ukr)
Marc De Maar (Ned) 0:00:08
Jianpeng Liu (Chn) 0:00:15
Patrick Schelling (Swi) 0:00:20
Oscar Pujol Munoz (Spa)
Robbie Hucker (Aus) – 0:00:21
