Tour of Guangxi: Trentin wins stage 5

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Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott) won the penultimate stage of the Tour of Guangxi in Guilin. The European champion beat stage 2 winner Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Trek Segafredo’s Jasper Stuyven.

Gianni Moscon (Team Sky) escaped a crash in the final 300 metres and finished inside the top 10 on the stage to retain his nine-second lead over Felix Grossschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe) in the overall classification with just one stage remaining.

"It was really good today we knew that if we did the climb hard then the top sprinters would be tired to do the sprint," Trentin said after the stage. "Luka Mezgec did a great lead-out but unfortunately crashed but not from his fault.

"I am really happy because it is my first win with the team and my first win in the European kit before the end of the season. Let's see tomorrow, because tomorrow is similar to today so if somebody wants to go super hard on the climb again then we are going to be there again."

The fifth stage of the Tour of Guangxi brought the peloton from Liuzhou to Guilin in what was by far the longest stage of the week at 212.2km. After the uphill finish of stage 4, the status quo would return with a day for the sprinters. It wasn’t a straightforward affair with a series of three climbs to contend with in the latter kilometres of the stage.

A flurry of attacks marked the opening kilometres of the stage and it would take just over 10 kilometres before a break finally formed. Silvan Dillier (AG2R La Mondiale), Tony Martin (Katusha-Alpecin), Pascal Eenkhorn (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Ryan Mullen (Trek-Segafredo) were the four to go clear of the peloton in the rainy conditions.

Starting the day just 1:37 behind Moscon in the overall standings, Diller was a risk to the race lead and Team Sky kept a close eye on the king of the mountains competition leader. Confident that they could reel in the four-man break, Sky allowed the gap to grow out to almost five minutes at the halfway point.

Heading into the second half of the stage, the mission to bring back the quartet began and the peloton chipped away at their lead, bit by bit. With 40 kilometres to go, the advantage had been reduced to just 2:30, and though Dillier remained the virtual leader his chances of remaining there looked slim.

A further minute was cut from that by the time the breakaway reached the foot of the second climb of the day – the first in the run of three at the end of the stage. As they went into the final flurry of climbs, Astana took to the front of the peloton. Meanwhile, Mullen was the first of the escapees to feel the strain and was dropped from the group. Dillier achieved his aim by collecting all the mountains points available.

It was the descent of the final climb rather than the ascent that proved crucial in the peloton with the bunch splitting up on the fast ride down towards the valley. A group of 19 went clear before expanding to 70 as more riders made it across to the move. Several of the stage contenders missed out in the split, including Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Fabio Jakobsen (Quick-Step Floors).

With 10 kilometres remaining, the gap had grown to almost a minute and would only grow out further once they decided that chasing was futile. There were still a number of strong sprinters left in the reduced front group and the finish would be heavily contested. Andrey Grivko (Astana) took the opportunity to have a go off the front but he would be taken back with five kilometres to go and the inevitable sprint finish was lined up.

A crash saw several riders go down but Trentin avoided the mess and showed the rest of the pack and claimed his first win in the European champion’s jersey.

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