Van Eetvelt is the strongest on steep final climb, takes a step toward overall victory in the Tour of Guangxi

Stage 5. Finally, it was time for the general classification riders to shine. Even in the tough hilly stages, the sprinters had managed to survive in recent days. Ethan Vernon won his second consecutive stage on Friday. This seemed to strengthen the Israel-Premier Tech rider's hold on the leader's jersey, but he ended up losing it after being penalized for a 'sticky bidon' at the top of the final climb. As a result, the British rider had to hand over the leader's jersey to Max Kanter (Astana Qazaqstan). The German was expected to lose his leading position on Saturday, as the stage involved a climb to Nongla. The short climb to the finish was steep enough to be called the decisive moment of the race.

From Yizhou, four riders immediately embarked on a long adventure. One of them was Koen Bouwman. The Visma | Lease a Bike climber is riding his last race for the team in China and was determined not to leave without making a statement. He went on the attack, along with the stage two winner, Warre Vangheluwe (Soudal Quick-Step). They were joined by two EF Education-EasyPost riders, Jonas Rutsch and Stefan Bissegger. However, they were never given much space, with the maximum gap being just over 3 minutes and 30 seconds. The gap shrank as the race progressed, and the final climb came into view.

Team dsm firmenich-PostNL, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale and Lidl-Trek. Those were the teams that took on the bulk of the work, but Lotto Dstny also contributed to putting Lennert Van Eetvelt in a good position. The leading four were not easily caught. Thanks in part to the efforts of the EF Education-EasyPost riders, their collaboration remained strong. So strong, in fact, that the chasing peloton didn’t close the gap much in the finale. As a result, the quartet started the climb with a thirty-second lead. Bouwman knew what he had to do and immediately rode off from his fellow escapees, going solo in search of glory.

But it wasn’t Bouwman’s day. The peloton, led by Lotto Dstny, quickly closed the gap. It was now a battle for the general classification, with Kanter being dropped. The front group thinned out quickly due to the high pace. With less than two kilometers to go, Tim Wellens accelerated. The Belgian riding for UAE Team Emirates flew off and was joined by Victor Lafay (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), who caught up and took over at full speed. Wellens was struggling to hold on. Meanwhile, behind them, Van Eetvelt was chasing on his own, with no teammates left.

The French leader dropped his companion and continued solo. He seemed to be on his way, but on the steepest sections, he began to struggle. Behind him, Oscar Onley (dsm-firmenich PostNL) was closing in fast, with Van Eetvelt on his wheel. With one hundred meters to go, they caught the unfortunate Frenchman and passed him. In the sprint for the win, the Belgian was the strongest, crowning his team's hard work with victory. Onley finished second, ahead of Alex Baudin and his teammate Lafay.