Serebryakov keeps 'em coming

Alexandre Serebryakov took his season tally to ten wins on Saturday as he sprinted to the win on day three of the Tour of Taihu Lake.

The future Euskaltel rider bested Alois Kankovsky, who'd taken out the first pair of stages, and La Pomme-Marseille rider Benjamin Giraud at the end of a 115km trek. The Russian thus claimed his eighth triumph in Asia this year, with four others coming at the Tour of China (pictured above) and a trio coming in Hainan. Considering his red-hot form and the distinctly low-quality field present, it was actually a surprise to not see him taking his first stage sooner - but with five stages to go he'll have plenty of chances to make up for earlier misses.

Speaking after Friday's stage two, he said he was "terrified" by some of the tactics employed by rival teams in the closing hundred metres. While today was no different, a strong team helped him pull it off.

"My team-mates closed the gap to the escapees to perfection. They gave it their all", he told Cyclingnews. "I was scared at the end, though, as guys like Yuri Metlushenko was coming up on both sides. With the tail wind, it was a very fast sprint. Fortunately, it wasn't as crazy as yesterday, when a Madison-like relay was given. I spoke to some of the guys this morning and said "ok, you're track riders, but this is road racing. We try to win every day, and there will be more occasions as the remaining five stages might also end in bunch finishes".

Photo: www.championsystem.com