On October 16th, the 2024 Gree Tour of Guangxi kicked off its second stage. The 23-year-old rider Warre Vangheluwe from the Soudal-Quick-Step team won the stage in this sprint battle.
Chongzuo is a frontier city for China's opening up and cooperation with ASEAN. It has the most border crossings in China and is the top border trade city in the country. Chongzuo is located in the core area of the Guangxi border tourism belt and has famous attractions such as Detian Waterfall, Huashan Rock Art, Friendship Pass, and Mingshi Pastoral. The largest transnational waterfall in Asia, Detian Waterfall, as well as other famous scenic spots like Mingshi Pastoral, Taiping Ancient Town, Friendship Pass, and the Zuojiang Huashan Rock Art Cultural Landscape, are all located in Chongzuo.
The second stage, Chongzuo to Jingxi, started from Jiuniu Climbing Square and covered 183.1KM, ending at Jinxi Ancient Town.
Due to the presence of two climbs and two intermediate sprints today, riders who performed well had the opportunity to be the first to wear the polka dot jersey of the King of the Mountains and also contend for the blue jersey. Consequently, many riders broke away to gain points and reduce time. After continuous pulling and selection, a stable breakaway group of 8 riders was formed.
Surprisingly, among the breakaway group, there was Chris Froome, the champion of the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, and Vuelta a España, and a four-time Tour de France winner, currently riding for the Israel-Premier Tech team. This near-40-year-old rider was active in the breakaway group, leading the ride multiple times.
Dries De Bondt of the Decathlon Ag2r team showed outstanding individual ability and had a significant advantage in the breakaway group.
The other six breakaway riders were Julien Vermote from the Jumbo-Visma team, Thomas Champion from the Cofidis team, Taco van der Hoorn from the Intermarché team, Daan Hoole from the Trek-Segafredo team, Filip Maciejuk from the Bora-Hansgrohe team, and Martin Svrček from the Soudal-Quick-Step team.
The eight-man breakaway group cooperated well, taking turns leading and gradually widening the time gap with the peloton to about three minutes. Thomas Champion from the Cofidis team and Dries De Bondt from the Decathlon Ag2r team took a KOM point.
Although the breakaway group was very united today, they were caught by the peloton before the finish line.
In the last 2 km before the finish line, the real competition began. On the wide, flat main road, the original positioning strategy seemed to fail, and the peloton even formed several sprint trains, giving anyone a chance to win.
In the end, Warre Vangheluwe from the Soudal-Quick-Step team defeated Max Kanter from the Astana team to win the stage, marking the first World Tour stage victory in the career of the 23-year-old.
The stage winner said after the race: "I am the lead-out rider for Luke Lamperti. 500 meters before the finish, I encountered a situation where he was blocked by other riders, so I decided to sprint for the final stretch. To win my second professional race in such an intense battle, and as my first World stage victory, it is truly amazing!"
Although Max Kanter of the Astana team only finished second in the stage, he earned some time bonuses and sprint points for participating in the breakaway, he’s now comfortably leading the general classification. Ultimately wearing the Gree Red Jersey, and the Wanda Hotels & Resorts Blue Jersey.
Max Kanter said after the race, "This is my first time wearing the leader's jersey in a professional race. I am very excited to wear it for the third stage tomorrow. In today's final sprint, I gave it my all, but unfortunately, I was just short of victory. Hopefully, I could win a stage in a few days later!"
Filip Maciejuk from the Bora-Hansgrohe team wore the Li-Ning White Jersey, representing the best young rider.
Dries De Bondt from the Decathlon Ag2r team wore the Baisuishan Polka Dot Jersey, representing the King of the Mountains. Additionally, due to his aggressive performance in the breakaway, he also won the combativity award for this stage.
Tomorrow's third stage is from Jingxi to Bama, with a total length of 214 km, featuring 2 intermediate sprints and 3 climbs. This stage is the longest in the 2024 Gree Tour of Guangxi: the ultra-long distance, combined with the 3 category-3 climbs in the latter part of the stage, results in a total elevation gain of nearly 2000 meters, increasing the stage's difficulty.
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