It ends today the Tour of Thailand with the final 3rd place in the General Ranking took by Alan Marangoni at the end of 6 stages raced with strong determination by all the team. In today sprint of also a good 5th place. It ends the double race periodi in Asia, with 3 podium and 7 top ten in Tour de Taiwan and Tour of Thailand.
Tour of Thailand, stage 6. Lampang › Chiangmai
It ends today the Tour of Thailand for the NIPPO Vini Fantini and for Alan Marangoni with the final 3rd place in the general ranking of the Tour valid for the Asian Calendar. For the Italian rider, a double role in the race. The one of leader & supporting rider for the young Japanese talents of the team, but with possibility to battle for the victory in some stages. With a strong determination od all the team the final result is the podium in the general ranking with also a stage podium in the 1st stage of the Tour.
The #OrangeBlue strategies have been changing during the Tour, as explains the Sports Directors Shinichi Fukushima: “Things have changed during the Tour, because of the fall and retirement of Masakazu Ito that was our leader for the ranking. At that point Alan Marangoni was the best rider in the ranking and did a good job to maintain the position in the hardest stage, also thanks to the great job made for him by Kohei Uchima, Hideto Nakane and Kazushige Kuboki. To race with only 4 riders has been not so easy, because it was not easy to control the race.”
Alan Marangoni is a little bit disappointed about the 1st stage missed opportunity, but very thankful with his teammates for the final podium in the general ranking: “My role at the very begin, as in Tour of Taiwan, was to help my Japanese young teammates. For this reason I’m disappointed both for the unlucky fall of Masakazu Ito and for the missed opportunity of victory in the first stage. However for this 3rd final placement I have to thanks all my teammates, they made a great job for me in the hardest stage helping me a lot to maintain the position in the leaders group. This podium is of each one of us, from Uchima to Nakane, to Kuboki. Today the final sprint, the only way to try to win the tour was winning also the stage, but after all these days of races in Taiwan and Thailand wasn’t easy.”
The two races in Asia just finished with a good balance for the team, in Taiwan and Thailand, where only the victory is missing. A general ranking podium, 2 stage podium and 7 top10 in singles stages. This is the final balance collected by Alan Marangoni, Kazushige Kuboki and Masakazu Ito with the help of their teammates.
Tour of Thailand – 6th stage ranking
1 YATES Theodore – Drapac Pat’s Veg Holistic Development Team
2 ABERASTURI Jon – Team UKYO
3 MA Guangtong Hengxiang Cycling Team
4 SANIKWATHI Thanawut Thailand Continental Cycling Team
5 MARANGONI Alan Nippo – Vini Fantini
Tour of Thailand General Ranking – Tour of Thailand:
1 – GIDICH Yevgeniy – Vino – Astana Motors 21:09:06
2 – MA Guangtong Hengxiang Cycling Team 0:02
3 – MARANGONI Alan Nippo – Vini Fantini 0:09
4 – ZHAO Jingbiao Hengxiang Cycling Team 0:18
5 – KRITSADA Changpad Infinite AIS Cycling Team 0:18