Irish rider Nicolas Roche has gone on the attack and in a clever move gained a little bit of time. He is now hopeful of making gains on stage 4 on the finish climb. Above, Gaviria wins stage 2 today in a bunch sprint.
Nicolas Roche attacks at Tour of Guangxi
Today’s stage of the Tour of Guangxi may have come down to a bunch sprint but it didn’t stop Nicolas Roche throwing himself into the action.
The Irish rider tried to go clear in an early escape with the hope of gaining bonus seconds at the sprint points.
Roche broke clear in a seven-man group and gained a valuable one second time bonus.
However, the group he was in was brought back and instead it was his BMC Racing team mate Silvan Dillier who again made the escape.
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He got clear with Jonathan Lastra (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Meiyin Wang (Bahrain-Merida).
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Dillier had taken maximum points and time in the sprints on stage 1. And when he won two more today he was virtual leaded on the road.
However, while the breakaway pulled out four minutes the 156.7km stage from Qinzhou to Nanning always looked set for a bunch sprint.
And so it came to pass; the escape pegged back and stage 1 winner and race leader Fernando Gaviria (QuickStep) romped in for another win.
He edged out Max Walscheid (Team Sunweb) and Wouter Wippert (Cannondale-Drapac).
Roche was clearly paying attention at the finish in a bid to stay the right side of any potential times gap in the bunch as he placed 19th on the stage.
Stage 2: Qinzhou to Nanning (156.7km)
1 Fernando Gaviria Rendon (Col) Quick-Step Floors 3:43:54
2 Maximilian Richard Walscheid (Ger) Team Sunweb
3 Wouter Wippert (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac
4 Matteo Pelucchi (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
5 Mekseb Debesay (Eri) Dimension Data
6 Magnus Cort Nielsen (Den) Orica-Scott
7 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
8 Federico Zurlo (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
9 Daniel Oss (Ita) BMC Racing Team
10 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
19 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team
General Classification
1 Fernando Gaviria Rendon (Col) Quick-Step Floors 6:03:35
2 Silvan Dillier (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:00:05
3 Maximilian Richard Walscheid (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:00:14
4 Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
5 Wouter Wippert (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac 0:00:16
6 Andrey Grivko (Ukr) Astana Pro Team
7 Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:16
8 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:00:17
9 Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Quick-Step Floors
10 Jonathan Lastra Martinez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
13 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team 0:00:19
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