Cycling: Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors) has won the opener of the first Tour of Guangxi. The Colombian sprinted to stage victory ahead of Dutchman Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo) and German Pascal Ackermann (Bora-hansgrohe). He also took the lead in the overall standings.
A strong 3rd place for @Ackes171 in the opening stage of the #TourofGuangxi , well done mate! #BORAhansgrohe pic.twitter.com/EyD9hW2SwA
- BORA - hansgrohe (@BORAhansgrohe) 19 October 2017
Dillier leads in the points classification
As expected, there was a mass sprint at the start of the first Tour of Guangxi. On the circuit around Beihai, two 107,4 kilometers had to be covered on a total of 54 kilometers. Four escapees escaped nine kilometers after the start: South African Nick Dougall (Dimension Data), Ukrainian Andrei Grivko (Astana), French neo-pro Rémi Cavagna (Quick-Step Floors) and Swiss Silvan Dillier ( BMC). However, the peloton only gave the fugitive a lead of around a minute on the short and very fast stage. Dillier secured the points lead and some bonus seconds en route, putting him just a second behind Gaviria in the standings. But apart from Cavagna - who did an excellent job for Captain Gaviria and took the lead in the mountains classification - the group was caught early.
#TourofGuangxi 🇨🇳Stage 1
1. Gaviria
2. Groenewegen
3. Ackerman
4. Walscheid
5. Wippert pic.twitter.com/OafRECwj0r— Pinarello España (@Pinarello_es) 19 October 2017
Gaviria thanks Cavagna
Due to the small lead, Cavagna was joined in the final kilometers by Jonathan Lastra (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA). The duo fought back against the approaching field, but didn't stand a chance. It worked out perfectly for the Quick-Step Floors team. With Cavagna in the lead group, no tracking work had to be done. In the sprint itself, Gaviria proved to be the strongest professional, but he also thought of the help of his young colleague: “The stage was short and fast. And that's why it was a fast sprint. We only had four riders for the leadout but we wanted to win the stage. Cavagna was really strong at the front and for us that meant we didn't have to work behind it.” But Gaviria also deserves special praise. The Colombian has won at least one stage in every Tour he has competed in this season.
Partyyyyyy!!!!!
😁😁😁😁#TourofGuangxi pic.twitter.com/T1AbEedaK6— Quick-Step Cycling (@quickstepteam) 19 October 2017
Will there also be a mass sprint tomorrow?
It wasn't quite enough for the German sprinters Pascal Ackermann (Bora-hansgrohe), Max Walscheid (Sunweb) and Rick Zabel (Katusha-Alpecin) in China today. However, positions three, four and ninth can be built up in the coming days. Because tomorrow and the day after tomorrow there should be a mass sprint. The fourth stage of the Tour of Guangxi ends with a small mountain finish and will probably decide the overall ranking. After a hilly fifth leg, the final WorldTour race of the season is likely to end with another bunch sprint in Guilin on Tuesday.
"It was an honor for me to be led out by the green jersey." @MaxWalscheid after taking 4th at #TourofGuangxi.
📝 https://t.co/drQv7idgkB pic.twitter.com/QFUB0imAsy
— Team Sunweb (@TeamSunweb) 19 October 2017