Daniel McLay (EF Education First) took an impressive win on the second stage of Tour of Guangxi as he out-sprinted Pascal Ackermann (BORA-hansgrohe) and Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-SCOTT) in Qinzhou.
The leading rider, Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates), finished in eighth place, meaning that Ackermann is the new leader of the race due to bonus seconds.
Today’s stage was always expected to end in a bunch sprint but the peloton had to work hard to bring back a three-man breakaway of Sep Vanmarcke (EF Education First), Laurens de Vreese (Astana) and Jérôme Cousin (Team Total Direct Energie) at the front. It was only with three kilometers left to go, that the pack reeled in the last one of the escapees.
With the final kilometer being straight-out towards the finishing line, it was no surprise to see a bit of messy sprint with every team trying to set up their sprinter. However, as nobody managed to pull off the perfect leadout, the sprinters were left to fence for themselves. McLay went early on the right side of the road with Ackermann going on the left side. Ultimately, the Brit proved to be the fasted man on the day as he took the win with more than bike-length down to his nearest rival.
After two sprint stages, Saturday’s stage 3 might produce a different kind of winner. A short category 3 climb - with its top just 5.5 km from the line - could be used as a launch pad for a late attack.
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