With victory on stage 3 of the Tour of Guangxi, Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors) has won every stage so far, and has secured at least half of the stage wins on offer at the end of season WorldTour race. The Colombian was again imperious, dispatching Max Walscheid (Sunweb) and Magnus Cort (Orica-Scott) in the long straight sprint for the line.
Gaviria also collected a further ten bonus seconds to increase his grip on the red leader’s jersey, while he also holds the blue points jersey and the white 'best young rider' rider jersey. He will take a 13-second lead into stage four ahead of Silvan Dillier (BMC), with Walscheid third at 18 seconds.
“Today it was a strange stage. Short, really fast with a really good breakaway for the for three riders,” Gaviria said. “The final was really crazy. A lot of people in the front. Everybody stays in the front and it is really difficult. The final, a good job by [Max] Richeze and I have the legs for the win. I am really happy today."
After three straight stages for the fast men, stage four of the Tour of Guangxi is expected to see the punchy climbers take centre stage and the battle for the red jersey intensify. The 151km stage, billed as the queen stage of the race, features a summit finish at Nogla that's expected to significantly shape the overall classification.
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Although Gaviria has stamped his authority on the race so far, teammate Julian Alaphilippe is expected to be Quick-Step Floors’ man for the mountain.
How it happened
Stage 3 of the Tour of Guangxi saw the peloton roll out of Nanning for four laps of the local 31.4km circuit. An animated start to the race saw several riders jump off the front of the peloton in attempts to force the breakaway.
A trio of Daniel Oss (BMC), Nuno Bico (Movistar) and Jack Haig (Orica-Scott) eventually made it clear and quickly built a two-minute advantage over the bunch. The first sprint point went to Oss after which the peloton decided to slowly reel in the leaders.
With the gap trimmed in half and hovering around the minute mark, the sprint teams controlling the bunch decided on making the catch and ended the breakaway after 70km of racing. On the wide-open circuit around Nanning, the attacks came thick and fast, with multiple riders attempting to force a late move.
Lawson Craddock (Cannondale-Drapac) and Matej Mohoric (UAE Team Emirates) persisted and stuck a move inside the final 25km and pulled out a 50-second advantage.
Under the 10km banner to race, it was gruppo compatto and a controlled run in to the line. Just like the two previous stages, it was Gaviria outkicking his rivals for win number 13 of the 2017 season.
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