Nov 16th, 09. A breakaway group of 34 riders including Joseph Cooper, Eric Drower, and James Williamson of Subway – Avanti Cycling Team was not enough to hold off the main field in China.

Eric Drower in China ©Champ-Sys

Having built a maximum lead of 2m10s mid-way through Stage 5 of the Tour of Hainan, it appeared there were too many numbers in the move to succeed. It didn't help that joint-tour leader Boris Shpilevsky of the Russian National Team was in the break.

It was the Carmiooro A-Style team of yellow jersey wearer Francisco Ventoso and the Kazakhstan National Team that orchestrated the chase behind to recapture the breakaway after some 60km of freedom.

Almost immediately a counter-attack was made which saw three riders race clear with an hour to the finish in Chengmai.

Again it was Ventoso’s Italian registered team that set the pace on the front of the peloton to finally reel in the leading trio approaching the 5km to go board.

With a number of the sprinters’ teams now at the head of the race, it was all but certain the stage would end in a bunch sprint considering the high speed of the main field.

On the downhill sprint to the line, 2008 tour winner Shpilevsky sprinted second best to Korean rider Seon Ho Park (Seoul Cycling Team) to earn a time bonus to add to the bonus he collected in the day’s only intermediate sprint.

Shpilevsky’s second placing has catapulted the Russian into the tour lead where his advantage is now 9 seconds over deposed leader Ventoso and a further one second back to early tour leader Vitaliy Buts (Ukraine National Team).

Williamson was the best of the Subway – Avanti Cycling Team finishing 13th on the stage, whilst McCauley retained his 5th place on General Classification now 21 seconds down.

The New Zealand UCI-registered Continental team remains in second place in the Team Classification behind the Ukraine National Team.

The main field completed the 158km journey from the capital Haikou to Chengmai averaging 44.8km/h finishing in a time of 3hrs 31mins 21secs.

Stage Six from Chengmai to Danzhou will feature one Category Three climb and three intermediate sprints on its 181.4 kilometres route.

Thanks to Subway Avanti's Greg Hume and Paul Larkin for the race report and photo.