On October 18th, the fourth stage of the 2024 Gree-Guangxi Road Cycling World Tour (hereinafter referred to as the 2024 Gree-Guangxi World Tour) unfolded. After competing at 2 intermediate sprints, 4 climbs, and enduring a long 176.8 kilometers, Ethan Vernon from Israel-Premier Tech Team showcased his excellent sprinting ability in the final battle and secured his second stage victory of this event!
The fourth stage of the 2024 Gree-Guangxi World Tour, the Bama-Jinchengjiang stage, started at Shouxiang Cultural Square in Bama Yao Autonomous County and finished at the Sports and Culture Center in Hechi City.
This stage covered a distance of 176.8 kilometers with undulating terrain, featuring 2 intermediate sprints located at 62.5 kilometers and 165 kilometers. The final 30 kilometers included a gentle downhill and flat road. Notably, this stage had the most climbs of the entire tour, with 4 climbs, including 2 second-category climbs and 2 third-category climbs, evenly distributed throughout the route. Three of the climbs had an average gradient of over 6%, making them key points for riders contesting the climbing points and vying for the polka-dot jersey.
The starting point of this stage was Bama Yao Autonomous County, which is under the jurisdiction of Hechi City. Bama is recognized both internationally and domestically as the "World Longevity Town" and "China Longevity Town." It is a heroic revolutionary area, the permanent host of the China-ASEAN Traditional Medicine and Health Tourism International Forum, an important node city of the New Western Land-Sea Corridor, and a traffic hub connecting Guangdong, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Guangxi. Bama boasts unique natural gifts in geomagnetism, soil, water, air, and sunlight, earning accolades such as a top health tourism destination in China, one of the top 100 health counties in China, a climate-pleasant county, a national sanitary city, the hometown of fragrant pigs, one of the top ten selenium-rich towns in China, and the hometown of Chinese calligraphy.
The stage route passed through Donglan County. Known as the "World's Hometown of Bronze Drums," Donglan is the hometown of Wei Baqun, a leader of the peasant movement. It is the core area of the national bronze drum cultural ecological protection zone, with numerous revolutionary sites, earning it the name "Museum of Revolution Without Walls." Besides being the core area of Bama International Longevity Tourism Destination, Donglan is also a demonstration area for integrated red tourism development in Guangxi and one of Guangxi's first batch of all-region tourism demonstration zones, known as the "Hometown of Minority Generals" and "Longevity Town." Its colorful and vibrant history, beautiful natural environment, rich resources, and unique cultural heritage truly make one exclaim: "East Lan is still the best!"
Today's finishing point was set in the Jinchengjiang District of Hechi City, an important node city and logistics hub in the middle line of the New Western Land-Sea Corridor. Jinchengjiang is a red revolutionary area and is known as the hometown of nonferrous metals. It boasts beautiful natural landscapes such as Xiaosanxia in Liujia, Pearl Rock, and the First Bay of Longjiang River. The area is rich in cultural heritage, including the Red Army Slogan Building and memorial halls for the 7th and 8th Red Army in Hechi. It is a harmonious community of 27 ethnic groups including Zhuang, Han, Miao, and Yao, with distinctive folk activities such as the Stove King's Festival and Xialuo Shoulder Pole Cultural Tourism Festival. The climate is pleasant, with 98.9% days of good urban air quality annually. Convenient transportation with air, rail, highways, and national roads provides strong support for residents' lives and urban development.
As the race kicked off, riders began winding through the distinctive karst landscapes of Guangxi. The continuous mountains along the route, gathering villages, endless farmlands, and clear blue skies painted a beautiful picturesque scene.
The early stage of the race was tense and exciting. After some pulling and filtering, a stable breakaway group of four riders formed. Pepijn Reinderink from Soudal-Quick Step, who was in the breakaway until the end and won the combativity award yesterday, once again joined today's breakaway. However, Dries De Bondt, who wore the polka-dot jersey yesterday, did not join the breakaway group, giving Pepijn Reinderink a chance to compete for the climbing points and the polka-dot jersey. The other three breakaway riders were Stan Dewulf from Decathlon Ag2r, Stefan Bissegger from EF Education-EasyPost, and Taco Van Der Hoorn from Intermarché-Circus-Wanty. The breakaway group maintained a gap of around 3 minutes from the peloton.
Pepijn Reinderink's performance today can be described as astonishing. He joined the breakaway early, strongly taking the first position at all 4 climbing points. He accumulated 22 climbing points today, bringing his total to 28 points, ascending to the top of the climbing points ranking.
As the race progressed, the breakaway riders completed their tasks, secured the desired points, and gradually exhausted their physical strength. The peloton increased their pursuit speed, eventually catching the breakaway group within 2 kilometers of the finish line.
The road leading to the finish was wide and flat. Various teams lined up their sprint trains and launched the final sprint. Ethan Vernon from the Israel-Premier Tech Team won the sprint battle once again, raising his fist and shouting to celebrate the hard-won victory.
After this stage, there were some changes in the leader jerseys.
Stage champion Ethan Vernon was penalized 20 seconds in the general classification due to a mid-race foul. However, he still retained the blue Wanda Hotels & Resorts sprint leader jersey after the race.
Max Kanter from Team Astana wore the red Gree overall leader jersey.
Filip Maciejuk from BORA-hansgrohe wore the white Li-Ning best young rider jersey.
Pepijn Reinderink from Soudal-Quick Step took over the Baisuishan Climbing King polka-dot jersey.
Stan Dewulf from Decathlon Ag2r had a brilliant breakaway performance, earning the combativity award for this stage.