FUZHOU, China, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- Australian cyclist Jai Hindley from China's Mitchelton Scott Team (MTS) won the fourth stage of Tour of Fuzhou on Saturday, grabbing the yellow jersey from Mykhaylo Kononenko of Ukraine.
As the queen stage of the five-day race, the penultimate stage came to the longest and hardest uphill ride with three climbs, two sprints through a distance of 130.8 kms, including some 600 meters to climb vertically in the last 20 kms. The two sprints set at 92.1kms and 104.2kms, and the three climbs locates at 72.2kms, 113.5 and finishing line.
In the last 2kms, Kononenko dropped behind the leading group to finish the ninth. Disappointed to lose the yellow jersey, the Ukrainian still kept the green jersey as the best sprinter.
As the six-time winner in 2017 UCI European competitions, Hindley clocked in 3 hours 26 minutes and 25 seconds for his first stage win of the Tour of Fuzhou.
"I'm so happy to win today and it means a lot to me and my team," said Hindley, "this is my first season riding with Chinese teammates in the Chinese UCI registered continental club."
The white jersey keeper Fung Ka Hoo from Hong Kong, China, finished the second, and the polka-dot jersey owner Stanislau Bazhkou from Belarus Minsk cycling club hit the line 21 seconds later to secure his fame as best climber.
Fung told Xinhua he believed he had great chance to compete for the yellow jersey. "I'd like to thank my teammates to make good positions and space for me," said Fung, "I made the right choice to attack but I'm good at climbing, not sprinting, so it was just a bit shorter from victory."
After stage 4, Kolss, Malaysian Terengganu and Team of Hong Kong, China ranked the top three overall teams.
The last stage will be a circuit race on Sunday for 127.4kms with three sprints in mountainous Yongtai county.
