After his victory in yesterday’s queen stage, Lennert Van Eetvelt has now secured the overall win in the Gree-Tour of Guangxi. The team had to fend off a barrage of attacks in the final stage, but succeeded with flying colors. “You don’t win a World Tour race alone, the team worked incredibly hard,” Van Eetvelt said.
“It was a tricky day from start to finish,” Van Eetvelt recounted after the race. The final stage of the Gree-Tour of Guangxi featured a local circuit in Nanning, with a steep climb in each of the five laps acting as the decisive factor. “It got pretty tense at times. The team had to work really hard when a breakaway got away. And even in the final lap, the attacks kept coming. If Oscar Onley (Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL) – second in the standings – had finished second, or if someone had attacked in the last kilometer… So many scenarios could have played out, and we were under stress until the very end. Fortunately, I had a good day, and the rest of the team did an amazing job. Winning a World Tour race isn’t something you do on your own, and today proved that once again.”
Opening the season with a stage race victory in the UAE Tour and closing it with another overall win – Van Eetvelt eventually claimed Guangxi with a five-second lead over Onley – is not something everyone can achieve. “Most years, I end my season somewhere in the rain, wondering what I’m even doing (laughs). But now, because I took a break from racing after the Vuelta, I actually feel really fresh. Just two weeks ago, I had a 30-hour training week, and I’m really happy that all that hard work so late in the year has paid off. I never expected to reach this level at the end of October. It gives me a lot of confidence after a difficult season. Plus, I can go on vacation without any worries, and that feels really good.”
