Stage 3 of the Gree-Tour of Guangxi was temporarily paused less than 30km into the day of racing after a mass crash saw more than 20 riders come down and several of them abandoned, including one of the pre-race favourites Jhonatan Narváez (Ineos Grenadiers), Australian champion Luke Plapp (Jayco-AlUla) and last year's winner Milan Vader (Visma-Lease a Bike).
The race social media also reported that those who came down included race leader Max Kanter (Astana-Qazaqstan) but he was one rider that the live report on procyclingstats noted had returned to the peloton before word of the pause came through. However, six riders ended up abandoning following the crash.
After the race set out from Jingxi on Thursday morning the attacks quickly started flying, with Robert Stannard (Bahrain-Victorious), Mick van Dijke (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Pepijn Reinderink (Soudal-Quickstep) establishing a small gap as did a group of counter attackers Jonas Rutsch (EF Education-EasyPost), Artem Schmidt (Ineos Grenadiers) and Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarché-Wanty).
They were out front when the crash occurred, less than 30km into the day of racing, but the attackers appeared to have been caught before the peloton slowed and then a temporary halt was put in place.
"The race has now been paused in order for all riders who can continue racing to return [to] the peloton," said a social media post by the Gree-Tour of Guangxi.
Racing soon got back underway again but the riders, teams and commissaires agreed to cancel the first intermediate sprint at 38.8km. there were still, however, three category 3 climbs and a second intermediate sprint to tackle in the 214km stage to Bama, the longest of the tour.
Vegard Stake Laengen was among those riders out of the race following the crash but fortunately, UAE Team Emirates were quick to reassure on social media that the good news was that "he is fine".
EF Education-EasyPost said it had three riders involved – Esteban Chaves, Mikkel Honoré and Markel Beloki – and while two were able to ride on Honoré had an arm injury that required further medical examination so he had abandoned the race.
Visma-Lease a Bike said Vader's abandon came after he injured his knee in the mass crash, with a later update revealing the reasons for the crash from his point of view.
"Someone next to me hit a wheel in front of him and came up against me. I couldn't avoid him anymore, so we were among the first to crash," said Vader on Visma's website.
"I looked at my knee and knew right away that I didn't need to try any further. I'm glad no one was more seriously injured because it didn't look good at first."
Vader sustained a deep wound under his left knee but was quickly back walking again after being stitched up by Visma's team doctor at the hotel.
Narváez also had to leave the race after his second crash in as many days delivered a "knock on his knee".
"A tough way to end his final race for the team, but the last six seasons have been a real pleasure. Thanks, Jhony!" said Ineos Grenadiers in a social media post.
Well into the stage Jayco-Alula also confirmed that Plapp, who was in his first race back after an Olympic Games crash that resulted in abdominal surgery, had also abandoned.
An update from Jayco AlUla revealed that Plapp had "sustained some dizziness" following the heavy crash, leading to him abandoning on the advice of the team doctor
There were already three riders that didn't start stage 3 and with the six DNFs added that has cut the peloton down to 119 by the halfway mark of the six-day tour, the final WorldTour race for 2024.
