Ethan Vernon (Israel-Premier Tech) won stage 3 of the Gree-Tour of Guangxi, claiming the crash-interrupted day of racing after it ultimately came down to another tight sprint.
The British rider charged toward the line wheel-to-wheel with Juan Sebastian Molano (UAE Team Emirates), who had to settle for a close-run second. Israel-Premier Tech also took third with Riley Pickrell on the drama-filled day which was also the longest of the race.
“We changed the tactic a bit from previous days," said Vernon. "We were leading Riley Pickrell out instead and I had a free card, which actually worked out really well as it ended up being an extended lead out.
“There was a slight headwind and maybe Riley opened up a bit too early out of Jake’s [Stewart] wheel, which gave me the advantage. What we did was perfect, so everyone is really happy.”
The win vindicated the British rider's decision to skip the track World Championships and make the most of the work he had put in to get his rhythm back on the road.
So I really pushed hard to be selected for the team here as I really believed that I could win a stage," said Vernon. "I put some pressure on myself as I told the team this so I felt like I had to deliver.”
The third bunch sprint of the race came after the break of two – Pepijn Reinderink (Soudal-Quickstep) and Dries De Bondt (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) – was pulled back in within the last fifteen kilometres, having launched after the mass crash within the first hour of racing caused a temporary halt. The crash resulted in a number of abandons and the riders having to leave the race included key favourite Jhonatan Narváez (Ineos Grenadiers) and last year’s winner Milan Vader (Visma-Lease a Bike).
Max Kanter (Astana Qazaqstan), who started the day in the red jersey of the leader, was also involved in the fall but was quickly back in the peloton and ultimately sprinted to eighth place. Still, that was not enough to see him hold the top spot. The stage win also put Vernon into the overall lead on the same time as Molano. De Bondt, who swept up three more bonus seconds on the road during the stage 3 break, sits in third overall at two seconds back.
How it unfolded
The 214km day of racing in China took riders from Wednesday’s finishing point in Jingxi to Bama, via a route including three category 3 climbs. The last two came in quick succession after 150km of racing with the peak of the final categorised climb at 180km into the stage. That left a solid chunk of descending for the final 34km, however, it wasn’t all downhill. Some shorter climbs punctuated the closing stages as riders headed toward the false flat finish in the picturesque location, with the Panyang River, mountains and lush forests providing the backdrop.
The question at the start was whether it would be a day for the sprinters or could the break finally make it to the end.
“All things being equal it should come together for a sprint but as we have seen in the first two stages, the breakaway has almost made it so I think that is giving people a lot of hope,” Chris Froome (Israel-Premier Tech) said in a pre-stage interview posted on social media. He also, somewhat fortuitously, added that “we have got a few cards to play if it does come to a sprint, that’s for sure.”
There were fewer riders setting off from Jingxi on Thursday, which was no surprise given that stage 2 included a crash in the final kilometre. Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek), who was one of the victims, was a DNS but the in-doubt pre-race favourite Narváez made it to the start line. Other non-starters were an unwell Emmanuel Buchmann (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Fabio Jakobsen (DSM-Firmenich PostNL), who finished nearly 15 minutes off the back of the main group on Wednesday.
It wasn’t, however, the end of the attrition. After an attacking start, where a group of three and another trio of counter-attackers had established a small gap, a large crash occurred, pausing proceedings within the first 30km of racing. More than 20 riders were caught up, including race leader Kanter, though he had made his way back to the peloton when the temporary halt was called.
Regardless, it delivered a major impact on the race with the riders who were out as a result including Vader who had an injured knee along with Narváez, who after his second crash of the tour ended his time racing with Ineos Grenadiers prematurely. Vegard Stake Laengen (UAE Team Emirates) and Mikkel Honoré (EF Education-EasyPost) also abandoned.
Once the racing got underway again another break was established with De Bondt on the move for a second day, this time with Dutch rider Pepijn Reinderink (Soudal-Quickstep). The polka-dot jersey-clad Belgian swept up the top KOM points at 101km and also top sprint points at 137km, with Robert Stannard (Bahrain-Victorious) this time securing the remaining points ahead of the rest of the peloton.
The pair also held firm out front for the KOM points at 161km into the day of racing, with De Bondt’s teammate Victor Lafay taking third spot after attacking from the peloton with Artem Shmidt (Ineos Grenadiers). With more ultimately unsuccessful attacks flying off the front of the peloton the gap which had been over three minutes, continued to fall. It had slipped under two minutes by the final KOM points of the day at 180km into the stage. De Bondt of course claimed top points there too.
By the time the pair had hit the 13km to go mark the gap was around 20 seconds and Reinderink decided he’d see if his chances were better if he took off alone. No such luck, as while it gave him a little more time the Soudal-Quickstep rider was still swept up with just under 7km to go and the set up for the sprint began.
The Israel-Premier Tech jerseys were prominent at the front in another spread-out sprint and while there was plenty of room across the road for the challengers to charge none could overcome Vernon, though Milano got ever so close only losing out to a bike throw.
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