Fernando Gaviria kicks off Tour of Guangxi with bunch sprint win

Colombian sprinter Fernando Gaviria claims opening stage and race lead in the inaugural edition of the Tour of Guangxi in China

Fernando Gaviria celebrates after winning stage five of the 2017 Giro d'Italia

(Image credit: Yuzuru Sunada)

Blink and you'll miss him ... @FndoGaviria sprints to Stage 1 success at @TourofGuangxi and @quickstepteam celebrate 🇨🇳🍾🍾🍾 #TourofGuangxi pic.twitter.com/HX2obUidQA

— Velon CC (@VelonCC) October 19, 2017

Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors) won the opening stage of the first edition of the Tour of Guangxi in China on Thursday.

The Colombian took the victory from the bunch sprint in Beihai at the end of a flat, fast-paced circuit-based stage measuring 107 kilometres. It's the 23-year-old's 11th victory this season, including four stage wins in the Giro d'Italia in May.

Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo) came home for second place, with Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) in third.

The peloton came together to set up a bunch sprint after the day's four-rider escape group comprising Rémi Cavagna (Quick-Step Floors), Silvan Dillier (BMC), Nicolas Dougall (Dimension Data) and Andriy Grivko (Astana) had been caught.

>>> Team Sky reveal line-up for final WorldTour race of season: the Tour of Guangxi

Gaviria wears the leader's jersey going into stage two. Dillier is in second place overall, one second behind Gaviria after securing nine valuable bonus seconds via the three intermediate sprints in the break. Groenewegen is third at four seconds.

The six-stage Tour of Guangxi makes its debut in the top-flight WorldTour this season. It continues on Friday with stage two, running from Qinzhou to Nanning over 156.7km which should give the sprinters another opportunity to take a win. The race concludes on Tuesday, October 24.

Result

Tour of Guangxi 2017, stage one: Beihai to Beihai, 107.4km

1. Fernando Gaviria (Col) Quick-Step Floors, in 2-20-01

2. Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo

3. Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe

4. Max Walscheid (Ger) Team Sunweb

5. Wouter Wippert (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac

6. Andrea Guardini (Ita) UAE Team Emirates

7. Danny van Poppel (Ned) Team Sky

8. Dylan Page (Sui) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA

9. Rick Zabel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin

10. Moreno Hofland (Ned) Lotto-Soudal, all same time

General classification after stage one

1. Fernando Gaviria (Col) Quick-Step Floors, in 2-19-51

2. Silvan Dillier (Sui) BMC Racing, at 1 sec

3. Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, at 4 secs

4. Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 6 secs

5. Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Astana, at 6 secs

6. Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Quick-Step Floors, at 7 secs

7. Nicolas Dougall (RSA) Dimension Data, at 8 secs

8. Max Walscheid (Ger) Team Sunweb, at 10 secs

9. Wouter Wippert (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac, at 10 secs

10. Andrea Guardini (Ita) UAE Team Emirates, at 10 secs

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Nigel Wynn
Former Associate Editor

Nigel Wynn worked as associate editor on CyclingWeekly.com, he worked almost single-handedly on the Cycling Weekly website in its early days. His passion for cycling, his writing and his creativity, as well as his hard work and dedication, were the original driving force behind the website’s success. Without him, CyclingWeekly.com would certainly not exist on the size and scale that it enjoys today. Nigel sadly passed away, following a brave battle with a cancer-related illness, in 2018. He was a highly valued colleague, and more importantly, an exceptional person to work with - his presence is sorely missed.