Riabushenko storms to 2nd place in China

Aleksandr Riabushenko almost succeeded in the 3rd stage of the Tour of Guangxi, 143 km from Nanning-Nanning.
The Belarusian of the UAE Team Emirates was up in the final group sprint, in a duel with Pascal Ackermann (Bora-hansgrohe), but was unable to come around the stage winner and current race leader. Riabushenko hit the line in 2nd place, not far from Ackermann’s front wheel. Third place went to Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott).

The only major challenge of the race circuit, covered five times, was a short climb (1.6 km) with an average slope of 4.8% which came 5.7km from the finish.
On the last lap of the day the group thinned out, with Riabushenko showing his reliability and staying up front for the sprint.

Riabushenko after the race: “The stage was well suited for my characteristics.
The team worked very well to bring back the break in front which was very important and then I managed to get in a good position over the top.
In view of the finish I noticed that in the leading group there were still some very fast riders like Trentin and Ackermann, so I immediately tried to take the German wheel and launch myself in the sprint. The Bora-hansgrohe sprinter is just too strong in the sprint , but I’m still happy for the placement.
Tomorrow we take on the queen stage, so I’ll see how far I can go in the overall standings “.

The 4th stage will bring the group from Nanning to the Nongla Scenic Area (161.4 km) with the final climb of 2.5 km at 7.2% set to decide the general classification.

Results
1 Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-hansgrohe 3h19’21”
2 Aleksandr Riabushenko (Blr) UAE Team Emirates s.t.
3 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Mitchelton-Scott s.t.

 General classification after the 3rd stage
1 Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-hansgrohe 9h57’45”
2 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Mitchelton-Scott 7″
3 Aleksandr Riabushenko (Blr) UAE Team Emirates  16″