Paul Double (Jayco-AIUla) resisted a harmful late assault by Victor Lafay (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) to win the general classification of the Tour of Guangxi on Sunday, with Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep) scorching to a outstanding full home of 5 bunch dash wins out of a potential 5 on the 2025 WorldTour’s remaining day of racing.
Timing his transfer completely with a late blast up the right-hand aspect of the boundaries, Magnier crossed the road simply forward of Stanislaw Aniolkowski (Cofidis) and Paul Penhoet (Groupama-FDJ)
Second on GC within the remaining WorldTour race of the season was Lafay, 15 seconds again. Displaying notable season-long consistency, Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Crew Emirates-XRG) – the winner of the primary occasion of the collection, the Santos Tour Down Below again in January – got here dwelling in third, 16 seconds behind.
The way it unfolded
A number of assaults early on created a energetic opening half of the stage, raced over 5 lengthy laps around the southern metropolis of Nanning and even briefly a break up within the peloton with 75 kilometres to go, though race chief Double was not caught out and remained safely within the entrance group. A five-rider group did carve its approach clear, although, containing New Zealand’s Reuben Thompson (Lotto), Arkéa-B&B Resorts duo Ewen Costiou, Léandre Lozouet, Nans Peter (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) – set to retire after the race – and fellow-Frenchman Clément Davy (Groupama-FDJ). Thompson at 1:16 total was probably the most harmful risk to Double, however the hole by no means actually rose over 80 seconds, which means the Briton’s lead was probably not challenged.
EF Schooling-Straightforward Publish have been probably the most eager of the key squads to maintain the 5 forward below management, squeezing the hole to 45 seconds on the third final of the a number of ascents Cat.2 climb of Qingxiushan climb. Nevertheless, as they roared over the Yongjiang river on a broad freeway for nearly the final time, the 5 have been nonetheless very a lot a power to be reckoned with. In the meantime, there was a nasty crash in the course of the dashing peloton, with as much as a dozen riders then compelled to chase. A kind of badly affected was Purple Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe’s Frederik Wandahl, who hit his face laborious as he got here down and Diego Pescador (Movistar) was additionally in hassle after smashing his saddle in one of many uncommon crashes fortunately to have an effect on Guangxi this week.
On the ultimate ascent of the Qingxiushan, with round 20 kilometres to go, Costiou was the primary to make a concerted effort, however the huge information was a extra decided GC transfer behind as Lafay zipped away. Peters then took over on the entrance as they reached Costiou to supply his teammate with some transient assist, after which Lafay pushed on alone on the second, more durable phase of the climb.
Pressured on the defensive, race chief Double needed to react behind and he duly did, inflicting the peloton to separate however – crucially – not shatter fully. Lafay already had a niche of 20 seconds on a gaggle of some 30 riders on the summit of the Qingxiushan, making him digital chief on the street as he tore down by means of the forest and establishing a dramatic finale.
Lafay was clearly on a roll, and with nothing to lose, but the assist from UAE Crew Emirates behind was making it a really powerful problem for the French Giro d’Italia and Tour de France stage winner. 12 kilometres from the road because the street flattened notably and the race returned to broad highways once more, the Frenchman was reeled in. The addition of extra teams catching the entrance, one in every of them together with prime dash favorite Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep), rendered one other bunch dash, albeit a diminished one, more and more sure.
Jayco-AlUla tried to maintain the bunch collectively for Double, setting as robust a tempo as they might, but they might not cease Fausto Masnada (XDS-Astana) from attacking on the huge freeway and as soon as he was caught, Masnada’s teammate Anthon Charmig. With two kilometres to go, the Dane nonetheless had a few hundred metres benefit, forcing Soudal-QuickStep to work their finger to the bone to carry him again in.
Close by of the ending gantry and clearly aggressive to the final, Decathlon AG2R made a remaining throw of the cube with a short late dig by Stan Dewulf, just for Magnier to come back blasting up the appropriate for his fifth win in six days and nineteenth victory of the season: a outstanding achievement for the younger Frenchman, and one which augers very nicely for 2026.
Outcomes
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