Tour of Guangxi (et. 5)
Movistar Team leads bunch, sifts bunch out before inevitable sprint on Guangxi day five; Jesús Herrada -on the attack into the hills, still 13th overall-, Dayer Quintana and José Herrada stay into GC group.
Dutchman Dylan Groenewegen (TLJ) broke on Monday’s Tour of Guangxi stage five what had so far been total domination on bunch sprints by Colombia’s Fernando Gaviria (QST), 2nd at a very long (212km), demanding penultimate day from Liuzhou to Guilin, the city which will hold the final day of racing in the 2017 UCI WorldTour on Tuesday.
The Movistar Team, which sought for a place in the early break with Dayer Quintana and Nuno Bico into a tough first hour of racing (49km covered in just sixty minutes), had a relevant role later on at the three Cat-3 ascents near the finish. Amador, Dowsett, Carretero and Bico himself pushed hard to reach the escape down and reduced a main field which crossed the line with only 70 riders together. Despite Jesús Herrada trying to go on the attack to profit from his team-mates’ work, he was quickly reeled back.
Jesús (13th in the GC), Quintana (still 20th) and José Herrada were the three Blues making it to the end inside that selected GC group. The squad directed by Pablo Lastras will again try to improve its final result at Tuesday’s closing, 168km lopp around Guilin, again with short climbs near the finish.