The Chinese stage race will mark our final outing of the year.
The 2018 World Tour season is about to conclude, some 8 000 kilometers from where everything started. Ten months ago, after a long trip, the Quick-Step Floors riders were lining out at the start of the Tour Down Under, where we kicked off what turned out to be the best season in the history of the team. Now, we are ready to bring this unforgettable and record-breaking campaign to a conclusion, after more than 270 days and 90 races spread across five continents, at the second edition of the Tour of Guangxi.
The Asian race (16-21 October) will feature once again the uphill finish to Nongla (3.2 kilometers, 7.3%), which despite not being very difficult, can still create some significant gaps and put a rider in the driving seat ahead of the last two days. With four of the six stages suited to sprinters, only the penultimate one, packing four ranked climbs, will give the overall contenders a shot at making inroads in the general classification, before the final stage in Guilin.
Rémi Cavagna, Dries Devenyns, Philippe Gilbert, neo-pro Fabio Jakobsen, Davide Martinelli, Jhonatan Narvaez and Maximilian Schachmann – who between them have won eleven races in 2018 – are the seven Quick-Step Floors riders who will try to end the team's season on a high in China, before going on a well-deserved holiday.
"It's our last appointment of the year and we came here to get some more nice results, just like last season. Fabio will be backed by a strong squad in the sprint stages, and as you could see, there will be several opportunities for the fast men. We would also like to do a good general classification and having on the team several cards which we can play depending on how things will be unfolding gives us a lot of confidence", said sports director Geert Van Bondt.
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