Tour of Guangxi 2023: Kooij sprints to stage win on his birthday, Vader defends overall standings

In the end, it was once again only Jumbo-Visma that cheered. Once the last big mountain of the tour had been ridden on the 169-kilometre final stage around Guilin, the Dutch team was able to concentrate on Olav Kooij. Because then it was clear: Milan Vader would win his first tour - directly at WorldTour level. Jumbo easily countered a few attacks in the last 40 kilometres, and Vader personally chased down an attack by Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar).

>> The route of the Tour of Guangxi at a glance

And so it was up to the birthday boy to round off the day perfectly in black and yellow. Kooij, now 22 years old, delivered. In a photo finish, he pushed his tyre across the finish line just ahead of Juan Sebastian Molano (UAE Team Emirates), improving his tally for 2023 to 13 after 12 victories the previous year.

Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers) came third on the day, climbing to third place overall behind Remy Rochas (Cofidis) and pushing Hugh Carthy (EF Education - EasyPost) off the podium. For the coup - Hayter disguised his final attack as a leadout for Elia Viviani - the bonus seconds had already been necessary at the last intermediate sprint 18 kilometres before the finish.

Tour of Guangxi 2023 - Result 6th stage

1. Olav Kooij (Jumbo-Visma) 3:34:50
2. Juan Sebastian Molano (UAE Team Emirates) +0:00
3. Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers) +0:00
4. Arvid de Kleijn (Tudor Pro Cycling) +0:00
5. Dusan Rajovic (Bahrain Victorious) +0:00
6. Elia Viviani (Ineos Grenadiers) +0:00
7. Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Dstny) +0:00
8. Max Kanter (Movistar) +0:00
9. Rüdiger Selig (Lotto Dstny) +0:00
10. Max Walscheid (Cofidis) +0:00

Tour of Guangxi 2023 - Final standings of the overall standings

1. Milan Vader (Jumbo-Visma) 21:17:17
2. Remy Rochas (Cofidis) +0:06
3. Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers) +0:11
4. Hugh Carthy (EF Education - EasyPost) +0:14
5. Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates) +0:16
6. Louis Barre (Arkea-Samsic) +0:17
7. Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar) +0:18
8. Jesus David Pena (Team Jayco-AlUla) +0:18
9. Felix Großschartner (UAE Team Emirates) +0:18
10. Sylvain Moniquet (Lotto Dstny) +0:18

The breakaway group of the day this time consisted of Jens Keukeleire (EF Education - EasyPost), Oscar Onley (Team dsm-firmenich), Rune Herregodts (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty) and the permanent breakaway riders Jeny Reynders (Israel - Premier Tech), who took part on four days, and Dries De Bondt (Alpecin-Deceuninck), who added one more day.

>> This was stage 5 of the Tour of Guangxi 2023

>> This was stage 4 of the Tour of Guangxi 2023

>> This was stage 3 of the Tour of Guangxi 2023

>> This was stage 2 of the Tour of Guangxi 2023

>> This was stage 1 of the Tour of Guangxi 2023

Thanks to his active riding style, the Belgian not only secured himself a day in the red leader's jersey of the tour, but also victory in the final points classification. Frederik Wandahl (Bora-Hansgrohe) was the only wearer and took home the mountain jersey.

Women's race goes to Pikulik

Just like the men's WorldTour, the women's counterpart also ended in Guilin that day. The Tour of Guangxi of the Women's WorldTour was reduced to one stage, which essentially followed the course of the men's race and, at 144 kilometres, only started a little later on the course.

Poland's Daria Pikulik (Human Powered Health) won the bunch sprint ahead of Italy's Chiara Consonni (UAE Team ADQ) and Mia Griffin (Israel - Premier Tech - Roland) from Ireland.