On October 17th, the third stage of the 2024 Gree-Guangxi Road Cycling World Tour commenced. After more than 200 kilometers of fierce competition, the race ended with a mass sprint: Ethan Vernon from the Israel Premier Tech team narrowly won the bunch sprint!
The third stage, from Jingxi to Bama, started and ended at Jingxi's Jinxi Ancient Town and Bama Yao Autonomous County's Shouxiang Cultural Square in Baise City, respectively. The stage covered a distance of 214 kilometers, with two intermediate sprints located at 38.8 km and 136.8 km, and three category 3 climbs at 101.1 km, 161.6 km, and 179.5 km. This stage is the longest in the 2024 Gree Tour of Guangxi.
Jingxi, the starting point of this stage, is a vital gateway for Baise's foreign trade and an important land route to ASEAN countries in the southwest of China. It is a land of revolutionary fervor, where the Red Seventh and Eighth Armies led by Deng Xiaoping sowed the seeds of revolution. Jingxi boasts 6 national 4A-level scenic spots, including Tongling, Gulongshan, Jiuzhou, Equan, Jinxi Ancient Town, and many other tourist attractions like the Sandie Waterfall.
Rich in mineral resources, it is an essential part of Guangxi's ecologically sustainable aluminum industry demonstration base and a key manganese industrial base. Jingxi has been honored as the "Hometown of Chinese Embroidery Balls," one of Guangxi's top ten most beautiful counties, Guangxi's distinctive tourism county, and one of the first national all-area tourism demonstration zones.
The finishing point of this stage is set in Bama Yao Autonomous County of Hechi City. Hechi City is home to eight resident ethnic groups, including Zhuang, Han, Yao, Miao, Mulam, Maonan, Dong, and Shui, making it one of the most ethnically diverse regions in Guangxi. It is the hometown of the Zhuang song fairy Liu Sanjie and the world's drum city. With a year-round spring-like climate and excellent ecological environment, Bama boasts a forest coverage rate of 71.6% and stunning world geological wonders, earning it the title of "World Longevity Town," China's first world longevity city, China's ecological health tourism demonstration base, and a UNESCO South China Karst World Natural Heritage Site. Bama is highly revered as an outstanding ecological tourism city in China and one of Guangxi's three major international tourist destinations. The city has maintained the largest sericulture production scale among prefecture-level cities in China for 19 consecutive years and has been awarded the title of "China's New Silk Capital."
After the last climb, the route entered Bama Yao Autonomous County, with the finish line set at Shouxiang Cultural Square. Bama Yao Autonomous County is the first county in China to be jointly recognized as a "World Longevity Town" and "China's Longevity Town" by both international and domestic authorities. It is a heroic revolutionary base county, 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 transportation hub connecting Guangdong, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Guangxi in western Guangxi. Blessed with unique geomagnetic fields, soil, water, air, and sunlight, Bama is renowned as a destination for health and wellness tourism, one of China's top 100 counties for health and wellness, a national health county, the "Hometown of Chinese Fragrant Pigs," one of China's top ten selenium-rich regions, and the "Hometown of Chinese Calligraphy."
Throughout today's race, the minority ethnic cultures were well showcased, with many Zhuang people dressed in traditional ethnic costumes singing and dancing along the roadside, beating Zhuang drums, waving flags, and cheering for guests from all over the world!
Due to the multiple sprints and climb points set today, the peloton was restless from the start, with constant attacks and pulling, forming two leading small groups, but the gap remained small. In the early stages of the fiercely competitive race, a crash occurred in the peloton, involving more than 20 riders, including the overall leader in the red jersey, Max Kanter.
The teams and the organizing committee agreed to temporarily suspend the race, waiting for all riders to recover before resuming. To ensure the safety of the riders, the organizing committee canceled the first intermediate sprint point at 38.8 km. After a series of efficient adjustments, the race soon resumed its normal pace.
Dries De Bondt, wearing the polka dot jersey from the Decathlon Ag2r team, decided to fight to defend his jersey and broke away to gain more climbing points. Pepijn Reinderink from the Soudal-QuickStep team accelerated and closely followed. With a tacit understanding, the two formed a stable breakaway group, at one point creating a gap of about 3 minutes and 40 seconds from the peloton.
In this long-distance breakaway, Dries De Bondt, wearing the polka dot jersey, showed great resilience, winning the only intermediate sprint point of this stage and all three climbing points. Pepijn Reinderink, the other breakaway rider, passed second, earning corresponding points and time bonuses.
As the race progressed, the breakaway group's energy gradually depleted, and the peloton picked up the pace, eventually catching the breakaway group 5 kilometers before the finish.
In the final 2 kilometers, with consecutive turns, the sprint trains were disrupted, and the finish line was in sight: Juan Sebastián Molano from the UAE Team Emirates launched his sprint first, while on the other side, the Israel Premier Tech team still had three riders at the front. In the last 50 meters, Ethan Vernon, hidden behind his teammates, narrowly edged out Juan Sebastián Molano at the finish line, claiming the stage victory.
Ethan Vernon donned the Gree red leader's jersey and the Wanda Hotels & Resorts blue jersey leads the points classification. At 24 years old, Ethan Vernon also wore the Li-Ning white jersey representing the best young rider.
Dries De Bondt from the Decathlon Ag2r team retained the Baisuishan polka dot jersey representing the king of the mountains after sweeping all the climbing points today.
Pepijn Reinderink from the Soudal-QuickStep team persevered until the end of the breakaway, earning the combativity award for this stage.
Comments