Guillermo Silva's winning percentage in China has exceeded 50% of his total career victories. In Sanya, the Uruguayan rider from XDS Astana, who had recorded four professional victories before this week, has also claimed the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification of the Tour of Hainan. This triumph, combined with the two he achieved in recent days and the one he secured at the Tour of Qinghai last year, has brought his tally to four victories (out of seven total) in Chinese territory.

"I believe this has been a perfect week for both me and the team" commented the twenty-four-year-old from Maldonado after crossing the finish line. "In the end, we brought home two stage wins out of five stages and managed to claim the general classification, which was the most important thing. But above all, we showed every day that we know how to work excellently as a team".

Thanks to the support of his teammates, Silva was thus able to break the Astana curse at the Tour of Hainan, which had lasted ten years—since 2016, when Aleksei Lutsenko had managed to inscribe his name in the race's honor roll ahead of Przemyslaw Niemiec.

"This was a very important race for us and being able to win it gives us great peace of mind" admitted the South American rider, encouraged up close for a brief stretch of the race by the boss of the Kazakh team, Aleksander Vinokourov.

"He was here for a few days, but for me his presence doesn't increase the pressure; on the contrary, I find it an honor to have him so close this year and I'm happy to have been able to give him this success" declared the 2001-born rider, who in his first stable year in the World Tour is repaying the choice and investment made in him by Astana.

Beyond putting him in a position to race as a leader and showcase what he had already demonstrated in previous seasons, the team has decided to expand his experience by having him compete in some of the most important races on the calendar (such as Milan-San Remo and Strade Bianche), where he has found himself competing closely on multiple occasions with champions of the caliber of Tadej Pogacar.

"Being in my first year in the World Tour category, almost everything is new for me and I find myself racing in many more events with champions like them: it's impressive to see up close the way they race and the speeds they reach. I find it very exciting and I really enjoy being in races with them" revealed Silva, who is about to head home to prepare at altitude for the Giro d'Italia and position himself to pursue one of his two dreams.

"If we're talking about classics, I'd say Milan-San Remo, but in general my dream is to win a stage in a Grand Tour".

And who knows if this might not come true in the three weeks following next May 8th.