It was Molano's fifth victory of the year, his third on the WorldTour. The 28-year-old had never been better in his career. On the almost 210 kilometres from Liuzhou to Guilin - the tour leads further inland - the Colombian also had to give his all to prevail ahead of Olav Kooij and Tobias Lund Andersen.
Tour of Guangxi 2023 - Stage 5 result
- Juan Sebastian Molano (UAE Team Emirates) 4:36:54
- Olav Kooij (Jumbo-Visma) +0:00
- Tobias Lund Andersen (Team dsm-firmenich) +0:00
- Jonathan Milan (Bahrain Victorious) +0:00
- Arvid de Kleijn (Tudor Pro Cycling) +0:00
- Jon Aberasturi (Lidl-Trek) +0:00
- Max Kanter (Movistar) +0:00
- Elia Viviani (Ineos Grenadiers) +0:00
- Blake Quick (Team Jayco - AlUla) +0:00
- Laurenz Rex (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty) +0:00
Molano came off the back wheel of Kooij, who in turn had sought the slipstream of Jonathan Milan, who ultimately finished fourth. But Milan was too early in the wind and also left a small gap on the left-hand side of the road through which the fastest man of the day was able to slip. Meanwhile, Kooij passed the tall Italian on the other side.
The sprint became possible after the escapees were caught around seven kilometres from the finish. After Dries De Bondt (Alpecin-Deceuninck) had relinquished his overall lead the day before, the Belgian was back in the escape group - for the fourth time on day five. By scoring points at the intermediate sprints, he was able to maintain his lead in the overall standings, as was Frederik Wandahl (Bora-Hansgrohe). The Dane, who was part of the breakaway for the third time, is still in the mountains jersey.
Jens Reynders (Israel - PremierTech), also a familiar face in the Tour of Guangxi breakaway groups, missed the train this time and didn't manage to fight his way to the front as a soloist. Instead, Julius van den Berg (EF Education - EasyPost) and Wandahl's team-mate Ryan Mullen were there. The Irishman still seemed to be the fittest in the group, but ultimately had to recognise that the will in the peloton to ride a bunch sprint was too much for his legs.
