Two wins for Gaviria at Tour of Guangxi

Powerful sprint by Gaviria leaves rivals fighting for the lower steps of the podium.
Fernando Gaviria has left his mark on the 5th stage of the Tour of Guangxi, Guilin-Liuzhou over 212.2 kilometers,  in a bunch sprint ahead of Pascal Ackermann (Bora-hansgrohe) and Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott) who both rounded out the podium.

The riders had four classified climbs to deal with, the last of which (1st category, 3.1 km at 5.5% average) came 38 km from the finish.
Four escapees launched a long-range attack before being taken back by the group at the foot of the last ascent. Despite some attacks on the uphill finish, the peloton managed to regroup in the remaining kilometers to the finish line.

In view of the sprint, Gaviria was brought up to the head of the group thanks to the work of his teammates with an excellent finishing lead-out by Oliviero Troia.
At 150 meters from the finish, the Colombian from UAE Team Emirates made his move, storming up the left side of the road and pressing on to bring his win tally up to six this season (photo Bettini).
For UAE Team Emirates it marks the 29th victory of the season.

The reaction of Gaviria: “My teammates had a huge part to play in this victory. I’m very happy with my performance today.: It’s never easy, at the end of the season, racing in races over 200 km, as happened today.
I felt good all day long, and I kept climbing hard trying to stay close to the main group and then caught back up to the leaders thanks to the support of the team.
In the sprint, I was able to start from a good position and had great legs so I could pull off the win. ”

The sixth and final stage will start and end in Guilin. The route will consist of a 167 km long loop with two short climbs, the latter of which is placed 41.5 km from the finish.

Stage 5 results
1 Fernando Gaviria (Col) UAE Team Emirates 5h13’42”
2 Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-hansgrohe s.t.
3 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Mitchelton-Scott s.t.

General classification after stage 5
1 Enric Mas (Esp) Deceuninck-Quick Step 19h04’32”
2 Daniel Martinez (Col) Ef 5″
3 Diego Rosa (Ita) Team Ineos 14″
20 Aleksandr Riabushenko (Blr) UAE Team Emirates 1’15”