Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto-Dstny) claims the all important stage 5 win at the 2024 Gree-Tour of Guangxi(Image credit: Getty Images)
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Max Kanter (Astana-Qazaqstan) rides to the start line in the red jersey of the race leader for a second time in the 2024 Tour of Guangxi(Image credit: Getty Images)
Hand slaps before the stage for stage 2 winner Warre Vangheluwe (Soudal-Quickstep)(Image credit: Getty Images)
Lennert Van Eetvelt (Loto-Dstny) gets set for the important GC day(Image credit: Getty Images)
Starting out with Kanter in the leaders jersey Ethan Vernon (Israel-Premier Tech) in the points jersey, Pepijn Reinderink (Soudal-Quickstep) leading the KOM classification and Filip Maciejuk (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) leading the youth classification(Image credit: Getty Images)
The break(Image credit: Getty Images)
Some rain fell(Image credit: Getty Images)
But it certainly wasn't all gloomy weather(Image credit: Getty Images)
A stage win and the overall lead for Van Eetvelt(Image credit: Getty Images)
A completely spent Alex Baudin (AG2R La Mondiale)(Image credit: Getty Images)
Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto-Dstny) surged to victory on stage 5 of the Gree-Tour of Guangxi, claiming the all-important summit victory on Saturday and in the process capturing the overall race lead.
Van Eetvelt put down the power as the summit finish drew ever nearer, claiming the win by taking off on Oscar Onley (DSM Firmenich-PostNL). Onley came second after the pair caught and then quickly blew past Victor Lafay (Decathlon-AG2R-La Mondiale) when the line was tantalisingly close. Lafay then pushed onto the line with his teammate Alex Baudin, who was third, while Lafay had to settle for fourth.
"I didn’t feel very good at first today," Van Eetvelt said in a Lotto-Dstny media statement. "But when the team wants to work for you, you can’t complain, and you just have to give it everything you’ve got."
The first big attack in the final stages of the climb came from UAE Team Emirates rider Tim Wellens within the final two kilometres, with Lafay linking on and then riding on by.
"When Tim Wellens attacked, I thought today wasn’t going to be my day," said Van Eetvelt. "But the last kilometre is so tough and I know how to keep my own pace on such sections, so I just kept going."
Van Eetvelt's win on the decisive GC stage put the 23-year-old in the red leaders jersey with Onley five seconds back and Baudin 15 seconds behind with just one stage to go. As a result, it looks like Van Eetvelt, who started the season with the overall win at the UAE Tour, could bookend his 2024 season with WorldTour GC wins.
Pepijn Reinderink (Soudal-Quickstep) held onto his lead in the mountains classification while Ethan Vernon (Israel-Premier Tech) also maintained his top points spot and the race leading. Belgian Lotto-Dstny rider also replaced Filip Maciejuk (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) at the top of the youth classification.
How it unfolded
Stage 5 of the Tour of Guangxi was always expected to be the day for the overall contenders as while the sprinters ruled through the four opening stages a summit finish on Saturday finally gave the climbers their opportunity to prosper and take the red jersey which had so far been shared among the fast finishers.
There was more climbing on Friday’s stage 4, but the difference on Saturday’s 165.8km stage from Yizhou to Nongla was a summit finish. In fact, the total elevation gain sat at just 1,420 metres, as it was a relatively flat run through the largest part of the stage, with the first categorised climb, a category 3, coming after 100km of the stage had already been completed.
After the race set out from Hechi City Center Square the EF Education-EasyPost duo of Jonas Rutsch and Stefan Bissegger established a gap with Koen Bouwman (Visma-Lease a Bike) and stage 2 winner Warre Vangheluwe (Soudal-Quickstep), with the margin around 2:40 by 20km into the day of racing.
Not surprisingly the speedy Vangheluwe took the top sprint points at 60.7km while Rutsch claimed the top KOM points on the wet roads at 117km into the day of racing and the stage 2 winner also claimed the top spot in the second intermediate sprint at 142km.
By this time the gap was getting closer to a minute, with the DSM Firmenich-PostNL team of Oscar Onley and Max Poole plus the Lidl-Trek squad of Quinn Simmons working up the front of the bunch. Still, the break continued to hold, though Rutsch ultimately fell away. By the time he was swept back into the main group at 10km to go the gap was still at around 1:20.
Into the final five kilometres as the road kicked up the margin quickly fell and Bouwman, in his last race with Visma-Lease a Bike, decided to go it alone. Bissegger and Vangheluwe were quickly swept up while Bouwman remained out the front. Still, as he passed the 4km to go marker, a quick look back over the shoulder showed that it wouldn’t be long before he too was swept up.
Lotto pushed the pace at the front, trying to set up the final move for Lennert Van Eetvelt, on the decisive category 1 finishing climb to Nongla – a 3.2km ascent with a gradient averaging 6.3%. It was, however, Wellens who first took advantage, launching at around 1.5km to go and Victor Lafay (Decathlon-AG2R-La Mondiale) quickly jumped on his wheel and then took off solo.
For a while, it looked like that could be the move of the day, but the chase ramped up behind and within hundreds of metres of the line Onley and Van Eetvelt caught the Decathlon-AG2R-La Mondiale rider and continued right on by.
Van Eetvelt then jumped from Onley’s wheel and quickly carved out a decisive winning margin as the DSM Firmenich-PostNL riders' pursuit was quickly curtailed by the realisation that he just couldn’t dig any deeper.
“The boys rode really well today controlling the break and positioning myself and Max into the climb," Onley said in a statement. "On the climb, it just came down to the legs for the both of us. I’m happy to come away with the second place and pick up another consistent result after a long season.”
There have been plenty of ups and downs for winner Van Eetvelt this season, from winning the UAE Tour to being sidelined with knee issues and being hit by a car while out training, but now he looks set to finish the season on a high note – just Sunday’s 134km final stage stands between him and overall victory.
Stage 6 is held on a circuit around Nanning, where riders will take on a category 2 climb each lap. KOM points are up for grabs on the first, third and fifth lap while the intermediate sprints will fall on laps two and four. The final finish line will deliver the last classification, stage and overall winner of the WorldTour in 2024.
Simone is a degree-qualified journalist that has accumulated decades of wide-ranging experience while working across a variety of leading media organisations. She joined Cyclingnews as a Production Editor at the start of the 2021 season and has now moved into the role of Australia Editor. Previously she worked as a freelance writer, Australian Editor at Ella CyclingTips and as a correspondent for Reuters and Bloomberg. Cycling was initially purely a leisure pursuit for Simone, who started out as a business journalist, but in 2015 her career focus also shifted to the sport.
