HAIKOU, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- After a long ride of about six hours, Italy's Manuel Belletti from the Androni Giocattoli team won the third stage of the 2018 Tour of Hainan in Qionghai city, South China's Hainan province on Thursday.

The third day of the road race concluded with the sprint of a large group. The 33-year-old Italian beat other three riders for the stage victory with a narrow advantage.

The stage started from Chengmai county to Qionghai city, via Haikou, the capital city of Hainan and Ding'an county, covering a distance of 231.8 kilometers for the longest route of the nine-day tour.

Dylan Page of the Swiss Cycling Team retains the yellow jersey with the highest total score and the green jersey for the best sprinter.

"Actually this yellow jersey was not in my plan before, it's a surprise for me," said Page, "my goal was just stage winner."

"The race keeps going day by day and there are some routes I'm not so good at, like the mountain part, but I will try my best to keep the yellow jersey longer."

Due to the sprint points on the way, Malaysia's Nur Amirull Mazuki took the blue jersey from China's Zhangzheng as the leading Asian cyclist. Peter Schulting from the Monkey Town Continental Team keeps the polka-dot jersey of the best climber.

The 2018 Tour of Hainan will run till Oct. 31, consists of nine stages for a total length of 1,481 kilometers, featuring 20 teams to vie for a total purse of around 350,000 U.S. dollars.

The next stage will be from Qionghai to Wanning in southeast Hainan. Enditem