Olav Kooij (Jumbo-Visma) celebrates the victory after a chaotic finale on stage 3 of the Tour of Guangxi(Image credit: Getty Images)
Rolling out for the third stage(Image credit: Getty Images)
More climbing on the menu for day 3(Image credit: Getty Images)
Spectators get to watch the riders pass by on the circuit five times(Image credit: Getty Images)
Passing through Nanning city(Image credit: Getty Images)
The attacks came early and then the field settled in for the ride, and chat(Image credit: Getty Images)
The early break of 6(Image credit: Getty Images)
Luke Plapp (Ineos Grenadiers) pushed the pace on the final climb(Image credit: Getty Images)
Thundering toward the line(Image credit: Getty Images)
A satisfied winner(Image credit: Getty Images)
Dries De Bondt (Alpecin-Deceuninck) gets the pay off for his unrelenting efforts in the break, the leader's jersey(Image credit: Getty Images)
Olav Kooij (Jumbo-Visma) managed to fight his way through mayhem to sprint to victory from a reduced bunch on stage 3 of the Tour of Guangxi, while Dries De Bondt (Alpecin-Deceuninck) moved into the race leader's red jersey after picking up time bonuses in the day's break.
Kooij was an emphatic winner in Nanning, and the Dutchman never looked like he was going to be challenged after he took the lead into the final corner. Rick Pluimers (Tudor) took second while Marijn van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost) claimed the final spot on the podium.
"Today was really a team effort, so I have to dedicate the win to the team," Kooij said after the podium ceremony. "I got dropped on the climb and then they brought me back so I owed it to them to go full in the sprint and put it all on the line, to thank them for what they did for me. So to win in the end is really nice."
Kooij was one of many sprinters placed under pressure on the final lap of the circuit around Nanning, when an upturn of pace on the final category 2 climb broke the field apart.
The speed there signalled the end for some of the fast finishers, such as stage 1 winner Elia Viviani (Ineos Grenadiers), but others like Kooij and Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Dstny) found their way back to the front of the race, with groups continuing to rejoin during the fast final 15km.
However, just when it looked like the field was set for another solid sprint battle there was a crash not far from the front. De Lie was among the fallers and the crash created further splits in the peloton, which proved impossible to close given the speed and proximity to the finish.
Kooij managed to pick his way through the chaos to claim the win, after finishing 7th and 5th in the last two stages, while the race leader at the start of the day, stage 2 winner Jonathan Milan (Bahrain-Victorious), came over the line in tenth.
By then, Milan knew that he needed to place in the top three to maintain his red jersey as Dries De Bondt had successfully repeated the previous day's endeavour of going in the break to collect six seconds in bonuses.
The Belgian and his companions were caught on the final lap, and he was among the riders distanced near the top of the final climb, but he chased back on over the other side to place in the front group and move into the red jersey, two seconds ahead of Milan, with Kooij now in third.
How it unfolded
De Bondt has been a man on a mission at this Tour of Guangxi. Already an escapee on the opening day, he replicated the feat on stage 2, picking up enough bonus seconds to move into the virtual race lead for Jonathan Milan’s victory to deny him of the red jersey.
The Belgian, still waiting on a 2024 contract, was always likely to try again on Saturday. Barely 2km into stage 3 around Nanning, he was duly on the offensive for the third successive day, bringing repeat attackers Frederik Wahndal (Bora-Hangrohe) and Julius Johansen (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) with him, together with Lukas Pöstlberger (Jayco-Alula), Jens Reynders (Israel Premier Tech) and Petr Kelemen (Tudor Pro Cycling).
The sextet collaborated smoothly on the first lap of the circuit through the vast park around Qingxiu Mountain, and they would build a lead north of two minutes by the time they crossed the Yong river to begin the second lap.
Behind, the usual assortment of sprinters’ teams set about controlling the escapees, but De Bondt would enjoy enough leeway to help himself to the full complement of bonus seconds, taking the intermediate sprints at the end of the second and fourth laps to move into the virtual overall lead.
De Bondt led the escapees through the bell with a lead of 40 seconds over the peloton, where EF Education-EasyPost were performing the pace-making duties. The unity of the break began to fragment on the approach to the final ascent of Qingxiu Mountain, and they were duly swept up on the climb proper, where Oscar Onley (dsm-firmenich) stretched things out with an acceleration before Ineos took control nearer the summit.
The uptick in speed saw the front group reduced to 40 or so riders by the time Luke Plapp led them over the summit, with the red jersey Milan and the virtual leader De Bondt among the men scrambling to get back in contact as they began the drop back into Nanning.
Plapp would apply pressure again by going on the attack with around 12km to go but the front group gradually swelled on the run-in to the finish, even if some Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Viviani were among the absentees for the sprint.
The unfortunate De Lie would miss out after his late crash too, and the spoils fell to Kooij, who picked up his twelfth win of the season. "I would say it was a bit of a nice bonus," Kooij said. "But in the end, it’s a win, and it’s a WorldTour win, so maybe it’s a bit more than that."
The Tour of Guangxi heads north to Nongla on Sunday for what should prove the decisive stage in the GC battle, with Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates) and Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar) among the riders expected to shine on the short, sharp climb to the finish.
Barry Ryan was Head of Features at Cyclingnews. He has covered professional cycling since 2010, reporting from the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and events from Argentina to Japan. His writing has appeared in The Independent, Procycling and Cycling Plus. He is the author of The Ascent: Sean Kelly, Stephen Roche and the Rise of Irish Cycling’s Golden Generation, published by Gill Books.
