Place Name: 547000
Address: 547000, Jinchengjiang Qu, Hechi Shi, Guangxi, China
Details: October 18, 2024
With four categorized climbs over 177KM, the sprinters will have to fight to stay in the bunch if they are to contest for a fourth stage in a row. The last climb is a category two and it tops out 35KM from the finish which could be just enough for the race to finish all together. Stan Dewulf of Decathlon AG2R, Stefan Bissegger of EF-Education EasyPost, Taco van der Hoorn of Intermarché-Wanty, and Pepijn Reinderink of Soudal-Quickstep went up the road and had 3 minutes with 59KM to go. Bissegger was first to drop from the group with 37KM to go, about half way up the final climb. The gap was cut to 90 seconds when Reinderink led the break over the top of the climb first to start the rolling but generally downhill run to the finish line. Bahrain-Victorious tried to attack but it was brought back and a large group was still together. No team took control and groups started to split from the peloton after the descent. Cooperation in the group was limited at best and the bunch was back together with 26KM to go. Visma-Lease a Bike and UAE got control of the bunch but at 12.5KM to go, Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe put in a hard attack on the final uphill stretch of the race. Van der Hoorn had been dropped from the break at this point but ten riders got clear from the peloton and got within 15 seconds of Dewulf and Reinderink. Once again, cooperation dissolved and the peloton came together. The break was caught with just 2KM to go as Bahrain-Victorious and Israel-Premier Tech were leading the charge. Under the final kilometer, Astana led, giving way to Israel-Premier Tech. Ethan Vernon was dropped off in clean air with 180M to go and would not be denied his second win in as many days. Max Kanter of Astana had to settle for second with Alberto Bruttomesso of Bahrain-Victorious taking third. After the stage, Vernon was penalized 20 seconds due to a sticky bottle in the stage. As a result, he dropped out of the GC lead which was awarded back to Max Kanter.
Tags: Tour of Guangxi, 2024, October, Stage 4, Tour of Guangxi 2024, Bama, Jinchengjiang, Stan Dewulf, Stefan Bissegger, Taco van der Hoorn, Pepijn Reinderink, Ethan Vernon, Max Kanter, Alberto Bruttomesso