Gree-Tour of Guangxi stage 2: Jonathan Milan wins long-range sprint

Jonathan Milan (Bahrain Victorious) sprinted to victory on stage 2 of the Tour of Guangxi, taking a long-range head-bobbing sprint all the way to the line in Qinzhou.

The Italian, who was runner-up behind Elia Viviani (Ineos Grenadiers) on the opening-day sprint, found himself hitting out with nearly 250 metres to go once again, but this time was able to hold on to collect his third win of the season.

Arvid De Klejn (Tudor Pro Cycling) finished runner-up, as Sebastián Molano (UAE Team Emirates) settled for the final spot on the podium.

Viviani was not in contention and so the leader’s jersey now passes to Milan.

"I wanted to finish well with this team," said the 23-year-old, who will leave for Lidl-Trek in 2024, and who’s been quiet since winning a stage and the points classification at the Giro d’Italia in May.

“From a mental point of view, it’s important to get this win. I was tired after the Worlds, so I took a break. Then I was able to train well and train in a calm way, and I was able to find some decent condition for the end of the season.”

Late breakaway almost causes a seismic shock

The second stage of the Tour of Guangxi was always expected to culminate in another bunch sprint, running 150km flat from Beihai to Qinzhou, where there were three laps of an 18km finishing circuit.

There was late drama, however, as a dangerous late breakaway threatened to spoil the sprinters' party. The last two remaining riders from the day's seemingly doomed breakaway were on the cusp of being caught with 7.5km to go, at which point a number of riders took advantage of a momentary relaxation in the peloton.

A few riders attacked at first, then more jumped as they saw the others go clear, and before long eight riders had linked up with the original two to form a 10-man charge heading into the final 5km. Lotto Dstny had three riders in there and were keen to push on and Tudor Pro Cycling had two to put the pressure on their sprint rivals behind, while George Bennett was a danger man for UAE Team Emirates.

Alpecin-Deceuninck, however, took the responsibility to chase it down, which they did with 3km remaining before pushing on to lead into the final kilometre. That's where the road widened out and the bunch spread all the way across it.

Tudor led out the sprint proper, and De Kleijn opened the taps with some 250 metres remaining. Milan had been separated from his own lead-out man but found space to pop out on the far right-hand side of the road, steadily making his way past De Kleijn on his left shoulder in the final 100 metres.

De Kleijn slipped and faded but hung on for second, as Molano took third with no real hope of rounding Milan. Movistar's Max Kanter looked to nip out at the last but left his charge too late and settled for fourth, while Jhonatan Narváez (Ineos Grenadiers) beat big-name sprinters Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Olav Kooij (Jumbo-Visma) to the line in the packed group.

Milan leads overall by four seconds ahead of Dries De Bondt (Alpecin-Deceuninck, with Viviani third at six seconds.