Fabio Jakobsen extends his lead in the points standings with two days to go.
Rémi Cavagna put on display his late-season form on the queen stage of the Tour of Guangxi, which just like last year, finished atop Nongla, a 3.2km-long ascent averaging 7.3%. At the end of 152.4 kilometers animated by two men whose advantage was always kept in check by Quick-Step Floors, the Frenchman rode a smart race, not going into the red on the leg-sapping hill once attacks began coming thick and fast, but instead climbing at his own pace and finishing in seventh place, a result that helped him make significant inroads in the general classification.
Tour of Guangxi is the final race of a season which Rémi began with a tenth place overall at Vuelta a San Juan, in January, and continued by notching up his maiden pro victory in Dwars door West-Vlaanderen, before making his Grand Tour debut at the Giro d'Italia, where he was part of the Quick-Step Floors set-up that claimed five stage victories. Now, he is on the verge of getting his best ever result in a World Tour stage race, just two stages separating the 23-year-old – who started stage 4 in seventh – from a top 5 finish at the Chinese event.
Friday was a rewarding day for Quick-Step Floors, who besides Cavagna, managed to place two other riders in the upper part of the rankings of the queen stage – Dries Devenyns (12th) and Philippe Gilbert (14th), the former jumping 48 places in the general classification, up to ninth.
Apart from this, Fabio Jakobsen – a winner of six races so far this season, including a stage at the Tour of Guangxi – made sure of keeping the points jersey on his shoulders for at least one more day, after getting involved at two of the stage's three intermediate sprints and increasing the buffer over his nearest opponents to five points.
Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele/ Getty Images
