It was the second stage win of the year for Viviani (Ineos Grenadiers), who only found his form late in the season. The Italian has already celebrated a total of 89 times. He decided the bunch sprint after 135 kilometres around the megacity of Beihai on the coast of the South China Sea with his best late form ahead of some of the best sprinters of the season. Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Dstny) and Olav Kooij (Jumbo-Visma), who have already notched up a double-digit number of victories, finished fourth and fifth respectively. The best German was Max Walscheid (Cofidis) in 7th place.
Tour of Guangxi - Result 1st stage
- Elia Viviani (Ineos Grenadiers) 3:01:56
- Jonathan Milan (Bahrain Victorious) +0:00
- Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:00
- Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Dstny) +0:00
- Olav Kooij (Jumbo-Visma) +0:00
- Linoel Taminiaux (Alpecin-Deceuninck) +0:00
- Max Walscheid (Cofidis) +0:00
- Arvid de Kleijn (Tudor Pro Cycling) +0:00
- Jensen Plowright (Alpecin-Deceuninck) +0:00
- Jon Aberasturi (Lidl-Trek) +0:00
A four-man breakaway group around Frederik Wandahl (Bora-Hansgrohe), Dries De Bondt (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Omer Goldstein (Israel - PremierTech) and Louis Barré (Arkea-Samsic) had dominated the day until 16 kilometres before the finish. Wandahl secured the most points for the mountains jersey on the only hill of the day, which was ridden over three times on the circuit around the city. But shortly after the third crossing, the breakaway came to an end and the big sprinter teams took command.
The sprinters are also likely to be in the lead on the next two of the six days, after which a mountain finish awaits.
Mylene de Zoete wins stage 1 of the Tour of Chongming Island
In parallel to the men's race, the women's WorldTour race is also being held in China. The three-day Tour of Chongming Island near Shanghai also ended in a bunch sprint on stage 1. Dutch rider Mylene de Zoete from the German Continental team Ceratizit - WNT Pro Cycling came out on top after 109 flat kilometres ahead of Georgia Baker (Team Jayco-AlUla) from Australia and Daria Pikulik (Human Powered Health) from Poland. The 24-year-old thus celebrated her first professional victory.
