Milan Fretin (Cofidis) sped to victory on stage 3 of the Tour of Guangxi, claiming the longest stage of the race in a messy sprint ahead of stage 2 winner Frits Biesterbos (Picnic PostNL).
With the finish line on a wide road into Bama, the sprint was spread all across the road with little room for organisation, and most sprinters in the wind early and making a desperate dash for the line.
Powering up the right-hand side of the road, Fretin just held Biesterbos off to claim the win, with Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) grabbing third. Fabio Jakobsen (Visma-Lease a Bike) had his best sprint of the week so far to take fourth.
Stage 1 winner Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep) had the best lead-out, dropped off just 150m from the line, but as he opened up his sprint he pulled his right foot out of his pedal and lost all speed. He was swamped by the pack and left banging his handlebars in frustration as he crossed the line in 21st.
Magnier's misfortune and Biesterbos' second place means that the Dutchman now takes over the lead of the race, donning the red jersey on Thursday, though a hilly day on stage 4 means he probably won't hold onto it for long.
Though it finished in a sprint, stage 3 from Jingxi to Bama was an undulating and long 212km day, with four climbs in the final 60km as the difficulty began to ramp up in China.
A three-man breakaway of Jasha Sütterlin (Jayco AlUla), Tobias Bayer (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Wang Ruidong (China) went away early in the stage, with Wang's efforts in the climbs earning him the KoM jersey.
Despite the profile of the final part of the stage looking ripe for attacks, it wasn't quite as aggressive as it could have been, with the leaders not caught until 20km to go with Wang valiantly pushing on solo to be the final escapee.
From there, Soudal-QuickStep and Decathlon CMA CGM kept the pace high and controlled enough to discourage any attacks and keep things together for their desired bunch sprint – though ultimately both teams got little for their efforts, with Magnier's incident costing him, and Olav Kooij not able to contest the sprint.
The Tour of Guangxi kicks up a notch tomorrow, with four categorised climbs and many more uncategorised ascents on a day that takes in over 2,700m of climbing before a downhill finish into Tian'e.
Results
Pos | Rider | Time |
|---|---|---|
1 | Milan Fretin (Bel) Cofidis | 4:31:55 |
2 | Frits Biesterbos (Ned) Picnic PostNL | 00 |
3 | Jordi Meeus (Bel) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe | 00 |
4 | Fabio Jakobsen (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike | 00 |
5 | Arvid de Kleijn (Ned) Tudor Pro Cycling | 00 |
6 | Juan Sebastian Molano Benavides (Col) UAE Team Emirates-XRG | 00 |
7 | Joshua Giddings (GBr) Lotto-Intermarché | 00 |
8 | Erlend Blikra (Nor) Uno-X Mobility | 00 |
9 | Brady Gilmore (Aus) NSN Cycling Team | 00 |
10 | Cyril Barthe (Fra) Groupama-FDJ United | 00 |
11 | Matteo Milan (Ita) Groupama-FDJ United | 00 |
12 | Mattia Agostinacchio (Ita) EF Education-EasyPost | 00 |
13 | Matevž Govekar (Slo) Bahrain Victorious | 00 |
14 | Robert Donaldson (GBr) Jayco-AlUla | 00 |
15 | Sean Flynn (GBr) Picnic PostNL | 00 |
16 | Tom Donnenwirth (Fra) Groupama-FDJ United | 00 |
17 | Itamar Einhorn (Isr) NSN Cycling Team | 00 |
18 | Luke Lamperti (USA) EF Education-EasyPost | 00 |
19 | Oded Kogut (Isr) NSN Cycling Team | 00 |
20 | Max Kanter (Ger) XDS Astana | 00 |
21 | Paul Magnier (Fra) Soudal-QuickStep | 00 |
22 | Manlio Moro (Ita) Movistar Team | 00 |
23 | Matteo Moschetti (Ita) Pinarello-Q36.5 | 00 |
24 | Kaden Alexander Groves (Aus) Alpecin-Premier Tech | 00 |
25 | Zhicheng Liu (Chn) China | 00 |
26 | Lionel Taminiaux (Bel) Lotto-Intermarché | 00 |
27 | Dries de Pooter (Bel) Jayco-AlUla | 00 |
28 | Jonas Rickaert (Bel) Alpecin-Premier Tech | 00 |
29 | Sam Welsford (Aus) Netcompany Ineos | 00 |
30 | Henrik Pedersen (Den) Uno-X Mobility | 00 |
31 | Binyan Ma (Chn) China | 00 |
32 | Sebastian Kolze Changizi (Den) Tudor Pro Cycling | 00 |
33 | Laurenz Rex (Bel) Soudal-QuickStep | 00 |
34 | Clément Braz Afonso (Fra) Groupama-FDJ United | 00 |
35 | Joe Pidcock (GBr) Pinarello-Q36.5 | 00 |
36 | Clément Champoussin (Fra) XDS Astana | 00 |
37 | Andrea Bagioli (Ita) Lidl-Trek | 00 |
38 | Rotem Tene (Isr) NSN Cycling Team | 00 |
39 | Marco Brenner (Ger) Tudor Pro Cycling | 00 |
40 | Emils Liepins (Lat) Pinarello-Q36.5 | 00 |
41 | Pavel Novák (Cze) Movistar Team | 00 |
42 | Rui Filipe Alves Oliveira (Por) UAE Team Emirates-XRG | 00 |
43 | Arne Marit (Bel) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe | 00 |
44 | Afonso Eulálio (Por) Bahrain Victorious | 00 |
45 | Enzo Paleni (Fra) Groupama-FDJ United | 00 |
46 | Milan Vader (Ned) Pinarello-Q36.5 | 00 |
47 | Tord Gudmestad (Nor) Decathlon CMA CGM | 00 |
48 | Martin Bugge (Nor) Uno-X Mobility | 00 |
49 | Daan Hoole (Ned) Decathlon CMA CGM | 00 |
50 | Robin Froidevaux (Swi) Tudor Pro Cycling | 00 |
51 | Kévin Vauquelin (Fra) Netcompany Ineos | 00 |
52 | Dries van Gestel (Bel) Soudal-QuickStep | 00 |
53 | Mathias Norsgaard (Den) Lidl-Trek | 00 |
54 | Robbe Ghys (Bel) Decathlon CMA CGM | 00 |
55 | Cees Bol (Ned) Decathlon CMA CGM | 00 |
56 | Pelayo Sanchez Mayo (Spa) Movistar Team | 00 |
57 | Brent van Moer (Bel) Pinarello-Q36.5 | 00 |
58 | Lennard Kämna (Ger) Lidl-Trek | 00 |
59 | Rudy Porter (Aus) Jayco-AlUla | 00 |
60 | William Barta (USA) Tudor Pro Cycling | 00 |
61 | Matthew Fox (Aus) Lotto-Intermarché | 00 |
62 | Louis Barre (Fra) Visma-Lease a Bike | 00 |
63 | Loe van Belle (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike | 00 |
64 | Olav Kooij (Ned) Decathlon CMA CGM | 00 |
65 | Juan Ayuso (Spa) Lidl-Trek | 00 |
66 | Tijmen Graat (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike | 00 |
67 | Neilson Powless (USA) EF Education-EasyPost | 00 |
68 | Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) NSN Cycling Team | 00 |
69 | Mikkel Honoré (Den) EF Education-EasyPost | 00 |
70 | Adrien Boichis (Fra) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe | 00 |
71 | Tobias Bayer (Aut) Alpecin-Premier Tech | 00 |
72 | Timo de Jong (Ned) Picnic PostNL | 00 |
73 | Tom Pidcock (GBr) Pinarello-Q36.5 | 00 |
74 | Maxim van Gils (Bel) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe | 00 |
75 | Léo Bisiaux (Fra) Decathlon CMA CGM | 00 |
76 | Jan Maas (Ned) Cofidis | 00 |
77 | Jasha Sütterlin (Ger) Jayco-AlUla | 00 |
78 | Anton Schiffer (Ger) Visma-Lease a Bike | 00 |
79 | Max Walker (GBr) EF Education-EasyPost | 00 |
80 | Paul Double (GBr) Jayco-AlUla | 00 |
81 | Robbe Dhondt (Bel) Picnic PostNL | 00 |
82 | Camille Charret (Fra) Cofidis | 00 |
83 | Nadav Raisberg (Isr) NSN Cycling Team | 00 |
84 | Bjoern Koerdt (GBr) Picnic PostNL | 00 |
85 | Martin Tjøtta (Nor) Uno-X Mobility | 00 |
86 | Fredrik Dversnes (Nor) Uno-X Mobility | 00 |
87 | Torstein Træen (Nor) Uno-X Mobility | 00 |
88 | Daniel Felipe Martinez Poveda (Col) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe | 00 |
89 | Alessandro Pinarello (Ita) NSN Cycling Team | 00 |
90 | Pau Miquel Delgado (Spa) Bahrain Victorious | 00 |
91 | Julius Johansen (Den) UAE Team Emirates-XRG | 00 |
92 | Dries de Bondt (Bel) Jayco-AlUla | 00 |
93 | Jamie Meehan (Irl) Cofidis | 00 |
94 | Jhonatan Narvaez (Ecu) UAE Team Emirates-XRG | 00 |
95 | Steff Cras (Bel) Soudal-QuickStep | 00 |
96 | Marijn van den Berg (Ned) EF Education-EasyPost | 00 |
97 | Patrick Gamper (Aut) Jayco-AlUla | 00 |
98 | Andrew August (USA) Netcompany Ineos | 00 |
99 | Jarno Widar (Bel) Lotto-Intermarché | 00 |
100 | Oscar Rodriguez Garaicoechea (Spa) Netcompany Ineos | 00 |
101 | Harold Martin Lopez Granizo (Ecu) XDS Astana | 00 |
102 | Ilan van Wilder (Bel) Soudal-QuickStep | 00 |
103 | Javier Romo Oliver (Spa) Movistar Team | 00 |
104 | Diego Pescador Castro (Col) Movistar Team | 00 |
105 | Brandon Rivera (Col) Netcompany Ineos | 00 |
106 | Rémy Rochas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ United | 00 |
107 | Davide Formolo (Ita) Movistar Team | 00 |
108 | Simon Carr (GBr) Cofidis | 00 |
109 | Tobias Svarre (Den) Uno-X Mobility | 00 |
110 | Max van der Meulen (Ned) Bahrain Victorious | 00 |
111 | Florian Vermeersch (Bel) UAE Team Emirates-XRG | 00 |
112 | Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Cofidis | 00 |
113 | Chenli Zhao (Chn) China | 00 |
114 | Peter Hansen (Den) Netcompany Ineos | 00 |
115 | Chenglu Liu (Chn) China | 00 |
116 | Owain Doull (GBr) Visma-Lease a Bike | 00 |
117 | Arjen Livyns (Bel) XDS Astana | 00 |
118 | Marc Soler (Spa) UAE Team Emirates-XRG | 00 |
119 | Carlos Verona (Spa) Lidl-Trek | 00 |
120 | Emil Herzog (Ger) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe | 00 |
121 | Victor Langellotti (Mon) XDS Astana | 00 |
122 | Reuben Thompson (NZl) Lotto-Intermarché | 00 |
123 | Yutao Shen (Chn) China | 00 |
124 | Haoyu Su (Chn) XDS Astana | 00 |
125 | Dillon Corkery (Irl) Picnic PostNL | 00 |
126 | Artem Shmidt (USA) Netcompany Ineos | 00 |
127 | Rune Herregodts (Bel) UAE Team Emirates-XRG | 00 |
128 | Oscar Riesebeek (Ned) Alpecin-Premier Tech | 00 |
129 | Edward Planckaert (Bel) Alpecin-Premier Tech | 00 |
130 | Nickolas Zukowsky (Can) Pinarello-Q36.5 | 00 |
131 | Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Lidl-Trek | 00 |
132 | Michel Heßmann (Ger) Movistar Team | 00 |
133 | Samuele Battistella (Ita) EF Education-EasyPost | 00 |
134 | Daniel Skerl (Ita) Bahrain Victorious | 17 |
135 | Žak Eržen (Slo) Bahrain Victorious | 17 |
136 | Jarrad Eriks Drizners (Aus) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe | 30 |
137 | Vlad van Mechelen (Bel) Bahrain Victorious | 43 |
138 | Sébastien Grignard (Bel) Lotto-Intermarché | 1:14 |
139 | Ayco Bastiaens (Bel) Soudal-QuickStep | 1:14 |
140 | Niklas Behrens (Ger) Visma-Lease a Bike | 1:23 |
141 | Baptiste Veistroffer (Fra) Lotto-Intermarché | 1:23 |
142 | Oliver Peace (GBr) Picnic PostNL | 1:23 |
143 | Stan Dewulf (Bel) Decathlon CMA CGM | 1:46 |
144 | Titouan Fontaine (Fra) Groupama-FDJ United | 1:46 |
145 | Arthur Kluckers (Lux) Tudor Pro Cycling | 1:53 |
146 | Ruidong Wang (Chn) China | 2:50 |
147 | Warre Vangheluwe (Bel) Soudal-QuickStep | 7:14 |
DNF | Haijie Hu (Chn) China |