Magnier wins Guangxi stage 1
Paul Magnier has resumed his winning streak at the Tour of Guangxi, sprinting to victory ahead of Max Kanter (XDS-Astana) and Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) in Fangchenggang, after a big crash split the bunch in the finishing straight.
The Tour of Guangxi got underway without the UCI's planned gear restriction trial, much to the relief of the teams who made the trip. Magnier even told Escape Collective that he doubted whether he'd have won had his gearing been curtailed.
"With the 54 [-tooth chainring] there we couldn’t really do a sprint and I'm happy we can sprint with the 56 here," Magnier said after the race. "We’ll see in the future if there is a restriction again but for me it doesn’t make that much sense."
The Tour of Guangxi resumes on Wednesday with a slightly more hilly route and a false flat to the finish.
Brief results
- Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep) 3:19:37
- Max Kanter (XDS-Astana) "
- Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) "
- Rasmus Pedersen (Decathlon-AG2R) "
- Oded Kogut (Israel-Premier Tech) "
