Stage three saw a 143 km-long circuit race around the regional capital of Nanning, with five laps around the town, each featuring a third category climb on the way. Directly after the fall of the flag, a trio made their way up front but BORA – hansgrohe controlled the tempo at the head of the field right from the start, and kept the escapees on a short leash. After 15 km of racing, Max Schachmann was involved in a crash, but the German road champion was quickly able to rejoin the pack and continue racing.
After the first hour in the saddle, Mitchelton – SCOTT moved up alongside to share the pace setting and the advantage of the leading trio reduced to one and a half minutes with 50km to the conclusion of the race. The situation continued unchanged and the remaining BORA – hansgrohe riders surrounding race leader Pascal Ackermann stayed safely tucked away in the peloton while their New Zealand teammate Shane Archbold, along with the assistance of Astana, accelerated the tempo to eventually catch up to the breakaway with 30km to go. Not long afterwards, several riders tried their luck and attacked from the field, however Max Schachmann was attentive at the head of the peloton and worked to neutralise these moves. Despite this flurry of activity over the last few kilometres, the stage eventually ended in a sprint in Nanning.
In the finishing straight, Pascal put in an incredible turn of speed, and he was not to be caught by the competition as he sprinted across the line first. With this result, he rewarded the hard work of his teammates and took his 12th victory of this season. He also extended his lead in the general classification, while still leading the points and young rider classifications.
Result
01 P. Ackermann 3:19:21
02 A. Riabushenko +0:00
03 M. Trentin +0:00
04 N. Arndt +0:00
From the finish line
“The third stage was harder than it was last year, and the parcours wasn’t necessary one for the sprinters. The plan was to stay with Trentin and be within the first ten riders to get over the last climb. That wasn’t an easy feat, because the ascent was quite hard. I tried to follow Trentin, because we knew he was strong and in the end it was the right decision. We wanted to come here to win a stage, and now we’ve achieved that. After my two second places on the first few stages, I feel less pressure now that I’ve taken a win here. Thanks to the entire team for the great support. I’m happy that I’ve been able to reward their work with this win.” – Pascal Ackermann
“We knew that it wouldn’t necessarily be easy to control the race or for Pascal to safely get over the final climb. But we still wanted to give it a good go. We had the same plan as yesterday and tried to let only a small group go clear. This worked out perfectly and we were able to control the race well with Shane, and ultimately with assistance from Mitchelton – SCOTT, the trio was reeled back in. On the last lap, we did not have to set the tempo because Mitchelton – SCOTT took over that duty. We could then concentrate on bringing Pascal into a good position on the climb, and Schwarzi and Rudi did a strong job there. On the climb itself the pace was high and there were several attacks, but Pascal did very well to keep up. Felix and Max then controlled proceedings over the final 5 km and in the end Pascal was able to take a convincing victory. We’ve now netted a stage win here, and continue to lead in the general classification, so of course we’re very satisfied with that achievement” – Enrico Poitschke, Sports Director
