Nicolas Roche (BMC Racing) has finished third on today’s fourth stage of the Tour of Guangxi (2.UWT), four seconds down on stage winner Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal). The 151-kilometre stage from Nanning to the summit finish on Mashan Nongla Scenic Spot was the queen stage of the race.
Roche now sits in third place overall, 9″ behind Wellens with Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) who finished second on the stage 4″ down on Wellens. Roche has taken over the Kings of the Mountains jersey with a two-point lead over his team-mate Silvan Diller.
Four riders went clear after 10 kilometres and gained a lead of seven minutes after 50 kilometres. BMC Racing Team and Quick Step-Floors worked to bring the leaders back and with six kilometres left, the catch was made.
Roche was in a good position as the race started the final 3-kilometre climb and attacked with Wellens and Mollema. The Irishman crested the climb first to take the KOM points but was overtaken by the two others on the run to the finish.
The race continues tomorrow with a 212-kilometre stage from Liuzhou to Guilin. The stage includes four categorised climbs including the final Cat. 2 climb 24 kilometres before the finish.
Nicolas Roche: “The finish was quite hectic but the crash didn’t bother me as we stayed to the left hand side of the road out of trouble. The team did a great job all day to chase the breakaway and keep us well-positioned. We wanted to take some responsibility so we put Floris Gerts up there straight away to chase and then Manuel Senni, and then Joey Rosskopf and Daniel Oss did the last effort to position us before the climb when it became a drag race with the other teams.
“We saw in the last few stages on these big open roads that everyone tries to get around you with the strong head wind so it can be really chaotic. So, we decided to take the race on and I think our plan to not save energy but instead use all of the guys paid off. Daniel made it a hard pace going into the climb and I knew that it flattened out a bit with 2km to go so that would be a good place to make a move.
“I attacked and went clear but was caught with about 800m to go by Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal). Wellens was stronger and rode myself and Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) off his wheel with 500m to go.”
“You never know what can happen in the final two days with the bonus seconds. It’s going to be quite tough as the intermediate sprints are well placed. But, you just never know which these stages and on these big roads.”
Stage 4 Result
1 Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) 3:23:18
2 Bauke Mollema (Trek – Segafredo) s
3 Nicolas Roche (BMC Racing Team) 0:04
4 Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) 0:06
5 Ben Hermans (BMC Racing Team) st
6 Wout Poels (Team Sky) 0:12
7 Matej Mohoric (UAE Team Emirates)
8 Rein Taaramäe (Team Katusha – Alpecin) 0:17
9 Mekseb Debesay (Dimension Data) 0:20
10 Rémi Cavagna (Quick-Step Floors) 0:22
