Cycling: The fourth stage of the Tour of Guangxi started Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal). The Belgian prevailed on the 151-kilometer section from Nanning up to the Mashan Nongla Scenic Spot ahead of Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) and Nicolas Roche (BMC). He also took the lead in the overall standings.
Wellens brings the probably decisive victory of the day
Tim Wellens got to enjoy the best view at the Mashan Nongla Scenic Spot. Standing at the top of the podium, the Belgian celebrated his sixth stage win of the season. Roughly in the middle of the approximately three-kilometer final ascent, the 26-year-old followed an attack by Nicolas Roche together with Bauke Mollema. At least the Irishman rewarded himself with the mountain classification and thus also with the mountain jersey, but Roche was no longer able to intervene in the final sprint for the day's victory. Mollema and Wellens finished four seconds ahead of him and dueled to the finish line. Although Mollema fought back, he had to accept that Wellens had the bigger punch.
Tim Wellens: "Of course I'm super happy. Thanks to my teammates, I got into the climb in a very good position and then felt a lot of strength in my legs.”
Nicolas Roche: "It would have been great to win. I thought about it with two kilometers to go, but I'm happy enough with third place. It will now be tough to fight for the podium in the general classification.”
On the attack 2k to go. thanks @BMCProTeam for the good work today to set me up.@Day, this year @TourofGuangxi no cigar but happy with 3rd pic.twitter.com/OQLnNbN05Z
— nicholas roche (@nicholasroche) 22 October 2017
Sky works for free - Sunweb & Bora-hansgrohe not at the forefront
After around ten kilometers, Pavel Kochetkov (Katusha-Alpecin), Victor Campenaerts (LottoNL-Jumbo), Lennard Hofstede (Sunweb) and Antonio Molina (Caja Rural) were able to break away from the peloton. The quartet pulled out a little over seven minutes lead but were held in check by teams Quick-Step Floors, BMC and Astana. When Team Sky pressed the accelerator towards the end, the breakaways were gone. However, Sky captains Wout Poels and Mikel Landa were unable to live up to expectations with sixth and 16th place respectively. The same happened to the two German teams Sunweb and Bora-hansgrohe. The best German was Silvio Herklotz (Bora-hansgrohe) on 24th place. Wilco Kelderman (Sunweb) dropped out, as did his teammate Michael Matthews.
REPORT/REACTION: Get the lowdown on @WoutPoels' sixth place on the #TourofGuangxi's queen stage.
📝 > https://t.co/vzPZh1DIDr pic.twitter.com/2hgWkZECse
— Team Sky 🚲 (@TeamSky) 22 October 2017
Gaviria, Walscheid & Dillier without a chance
The three-time stage winner Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors) couldn't play a big role today. The Colombian, wearing the red jersey, lost touch early on when climbing the final hill. In the end he lost over five minutes. The same happened to the German Max Walscheid (Sunweb), who was on the second and third stage sprinted to second place. He even lost more than nine minutes today. Silvan Dillier (BMC) crossed the finish line just 34 seconds behind the winner of the day, Wellens. 18th in the stage, he is now eighth in the overall standings. Especially on that first part the Tour of Guangxi, the Swiss secured time bonuses in the intermediate sprints. However, with a deficit of 27 seconds on Wellens, Dillier will hardly have a chance of overall victory. Tim Wellens is now standing in front of this in the first edition of the Chinese tour. He is four seconds ahead of Bauke Mollema, nine ahead of Nicolas Roche and 13 ahead of Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors).
📝.@Tim_Wellens claimed both the stage win and the leader's jersey today in the #TourofGuangxi! Report & reaction: https://t.co/hCE8Pcs5Cf pic.twitter.com/LekLJE47ik
- Lotto Soudal (@Lotto_Soudal) 22 October 2017