Dutchman Dylan Groenewegen of LottoNL-Jumbo started the second Gree-Tour of Guangxi on a winning mode in Beihai one year after he claimed stage 5 in Guilin. He outsprinted German Max Walscheid of Team Sunweb and fellow compatriot Fabio Jakobsen from Quick-Step Floors in a very competitive bunch gallop.

“It was a hectic sprint on a fast finale”, Groenewegen said. “We took the control of the peloton and dictated the sprint, maybe a bit too early but we have very strong guys in the team. They put me in a good position and I got a free ride for sprinting. I went at 200 metres before the line. There was a small cut. It was enough for me to stay ahead until the finish. We’re really happy with the result.

“This is a good race for sprinters with some flat stages a lot of sprints. I begun the season with a win in Dubai. Now we’re at the end of the season. Winning at the end of the season gives confidence for the whole winter. We have a young team, we’re motivated for every race. Every day I want to win at the Tour of Guangxi. It’s important, this is a WorldTour race.”

Another man who lighted up the inaugural Gree-Tour of Guangxi last year went again on the offensive: Swiss rider Silvan Dillier, now riding for AG2R-La Mondiale with the same style after transferring from BMC Racing Team. After 15km of racing, he was up the road with Jay Thompson (Dimension Data), Pavel Sivakov (Sky) and Yousif Mirza (UAE Team Emirates). They were reinforced by Andreï Grivko (Astana) and Marco Haller (Katusha-Alpecin). As Dillier won the first King of the Mountain price at km 40, the peloton was timed with a deficit of 1’40’’ from the three leaders as Thompson and Sivakov had dropped down. Teams LottoNL-Jumbo and Quick-Step Floors set the tempo at the head of the peloton and Groupama-FDJ came in help later on.

Dillier, Mirza and Grivko were reined in just before the second KOM price with 14km to go. Peter Kennaugh (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Gianni Moscon (Sky) rode away up the hill. They got caught 6km before Groenewegen took his fourteenth victory of the 2018 season, including two stages at the Tour de France.

“Last year I made the top 10 overall in the general classification, also because I got bonus seconds on the way, so I’ve tried to do the same today”, explained Dillier who was crowned King of the Mountains and most active rider of the day. “I’m still quite motivated for this race at the end of the season. It’s a nice race. It’s very well organized. There are a lot of spectators and Chinese people are really friendly. It makes it a very nice race and I’m really happy to be here again.”