Dubai: UAE Team Emirates’ Fernando Gaviria earned his second stage win at the Tour of Guangxi with a well-timed sprint finish, beating Pascal Ackermann (BORA-Hansgrohe) and Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott) to victory.
The longest stage of the tour from Liuzhou to Guilin, spanning 212.2km, took riders into the hills with the second half of the race being packed with climbs.
Gaviria was one of many sprinters dropped on the final climb, but his teammates worked hard to get him back up to the bunch before the race exploded into action.
With 250m to go, Gaviria was the first to open up the throttle and was unstoppable all the way to the line, showing he is getting back to the form we saw before his early season injury.
Gaviria said: “I rode conservatively knowing that there were climbs to overcome. I got confidence as I was close to the front in the hills.
It’s incredible to get two stage wins here after the difficult season I had. My knee problems are definitely behind me.”
Stage 5 Result
1. Fernando Gaviria (Col) UAE Team Emirates 5:13.42
2. Pascal Ackermann (Ger) BORA-hansgrohe same time
3. Matteo Trentin (Ita) Mitchelton-Scott same time
General Classification
1. Enric Mas (Deceuninck-Quick-Step): 19:04.32
2. Danny Martinez (Education First): +5s
3. Diego Rosa (Ineos): +14s
