Ethan Vernon (Israel-Premier Tech) took back-to-back stage wins at the Gree-Tour of Guangxi in China, holding off a late charge from Max Kanter (Astana Qazaqstan) at the end of stage into Jinchengjiang after a day in the hills.
Vernon originally extended his overall lead thanks to a ten-second time bonus for his stage victory, however, official results showed he had received a 20-second time penalty for an in-race infraction - reportedly a sticky bottle - and so he lost the leader's red jersey to Kanter.
The Brit launched his sprint after perfect lead-out from compatriot Jake Stewart, who brought him up late in the final 300 metres. Vernon sprint to the line to take his third win of the season.
“Ethan showed how strong he is – a few guys tried to come alongside him but they couldn’t,” Israel-Premier Tech sports director Sep Vanmarcke said in a team statement. “That, together with a seventh place for Riley [Pickrell] and the way we kept the GC together going into tomorrow’s crucial stage for Joe [Blackmore] means we’re really happy.”
Alberto Bruttomesso (Bahrain Victorious) was third behind Vernon and Kanter after the peloton had reeled in the remains of the day's breakaway in the final 2.5km.
Kanter took over the race lead again, having held the top spot after stage 2 as well. The German has a one-second advantage on Stan Dewulf (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and a two-second lead on Molano heading into the key GC stage on Saturday.
It will likely be Kanter's last day in the leader's jersey, with the summit finish up to Nongla finally giving the GC contenders present in China the chance to show off their end-of-season form.
How it unfolded
After the mass crash early on stage 3, a notably smaller peloton lined up in Bama to take on the 176.8km stage to Jinchengjiang. Six riders abandoned during Thursday’s stage and three didn’t start on Friday, which left 119 riders in the peloton when the flag dropped on National Rd to signal the start of racing.
What lay ahead was 176.8km with 2,140m of vertical ascent, the most climbing in any one day on the tour but with the final categorised climb topping out at around 35km to go, the crucial GC day is still expected to be on the summit finish of stage 5 on Saturday.
The first challenge was the category 2 climb at 13.4km into the day of racing, followed by a cat 3 at 45.5km and another at 91.6km before the final category 2 challenge at 141.8km.
The first three days may have been bunch sprints but it's been close enough that the break was keen to give it another shot, especially with the lumpy profile.
The race had barely got underway when the attacks came and the break, heavy on repeat offenders, quickly established. Stan Dewulf (Decathlon AG2R la Mondiale), Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-EasyPost), Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarché-Wanty) and Pepijn Reinderink (Soudal-QuickStep) were the riders out the front.
There was also something other than the stage at stake for Reinderink, with the Soudal-Quickstep rider second to Dries De Bondt (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) in the King of the Mountains classification when the day started.
Reinderink captured the top points at the first KOM at 13.4km and then also the next at 45.5km into the race, ejecting De Bondt from the top spot in the virtual KOM standings.
The next lot of points on the category 3 climb halfway through the stage again went to Reinderink, with the break of four continuing to hold a gap of a little more than two minutes to the peloton, where the Israel-Premier Tech team of the overall leader Vernon were working on the front to keep the break in check. Vernon may have been in red, but ultimately their plan for him lay with stage wins, while the GC plan sits with 21-year-old Tour de l'Avenir winner Joe Blackmore.
Through the final categorised climb, Bissegger fell away from the lead group and riders also began to fall away from the back of the peloton as the pressure went on at the front.
Bahrain Victorious rider Robert Stannard went on the attack from the peloton as ahead Reinderink added yet another lot of top points to his ever more impressive KOM tally. Stannard was quickly reeled back in but as this was playing out the gap between the leaders and the bunch was also being rapidly cut, having fallen well below a minute at 30km to go.
Van der Hoorn quickly began to fade in the final phase of racing, leaving just Dewulf and Reinderink to try and survive. The pair made it to the final intermediate sprint where Dewulf netted three more bonus seconds to take his day's total to six, which moved him narrowly into the virtual race lead.
UAE Team Emirates and Bahrain-Victorious did much of the work behind as the peloton melted away the break's advantage and began to wind up for the final sprint in Jinchengjiang, with Dewulf and Reinderink finally being reabsorbed with 2km to go.
On the wide final kilometre road, Visma-Lease a Bike were the best positioned until they got washed away and overtaken on both sides by several lead-out trains eyeing up the line, with Stewart piloting Vernon perfectly through the wheels with 400 metres to go.
“Every time he’s nailed it – I can trust him to deliver me to the right place," Vernon said.
Vernon then launched confidently in the red jersey at the perfect moment and showed great strength to easily hold off Kanter and Bruttomesso, who had started to come up quickly on either side of him.
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