With one stage remaining, Theo Bos has been the dominant rider at the Tour of Hainan as the Dutchman has won 5 of the 8 first stages of the Chinese race. He remains, however, more focused on the quality of his wins than their numbers and still dreams of winning a stage in a grand tour.

Ever since Theo Bos turned his back on the track to start a road career, he has had the objective of developing into one of the best sprinters in the world. The ultimate proof of that position would be to win a stage in a grand tour and that is what the Dutchman plans to achieve.

Bos made his road debut with the Rabobank Continental Team in 2009 before joining Cervelo for the 2010 season. In 2011, he was back in the Rabobank family and has been part of the team now known as Belkin ever since.

Having gradually improved his level, he has gradually improved his number of wins from season to season and with his recent dominance of the Tour of Hainan - where he has won 5 of the 8 first stages and is the favourite to win the final flat stage as well - he has taken his career tally to 27. His success in China has brought the number of 2013 wins up to 11.

Bos beat the sprinting giants Marcel Kittel, Mark Cavendish and André Greipel in a sprint in this year's Ster ZLM Toer and has proved that he is now one of the very best sprinters in the world. His Chinese dominance has underlined this fact and Bos could be forgiven to target smaller races where he would be able to raise his number of wins dramatically.

However, Bos remains firmly focussed on his big objective of a grand tour stage win.

“I’d love to do Le Tour de Langkawi again,” he told Cyclingnews, speaking about the Malaysian race where he won two stages earlier this year. “But I’m thinking of maybe riding Paris-Nice at that time of the season next year. I know it’s hard and there aren’t many opportunities there for sprinters but I keep trying to improve my level.

"I still pursue the same goal as when I switched to road cycling: I want to win a stage in a Grand Tour. Only after that I’ll be able to say that I’ve achieved what I’m looking for, and then I could focus on smaller races. Probably on the Asia Tour, I could win ten races every year.”

Bos has only raced a grand tour twice. In 2010 he abandoned the Vuelta after working for Thor Hushovd in the sprints while he shared sprinting duties with Mark Renshaw in last year's Giro. This year he was set to be the dominant sprinter in the Vuelta where he would have a very strong sprint train at his disposal but his team decided to take him out of the race on the eve of its start due to low cortisol levels caused by asthma medication.

Sprinters are often very focussed on the number of their wins but refutes the claim.

“I don’t think sprinters are obsessed by the numbers,” he said. “But sprinters’ successes have a huge influence on the atmosphere in a team. When sprinters win, it impacts the other riders, it’s good for the dynamic. I don’t know if it has happened before that this team has won so much, we may not be the best team in the world but we’re definitely on the right track in all aspects of racing: in the classics, overall classifications in Grand Tours and sprinting as well.”

The Tour of Hainan ends today with a flat stage.