Matevz Govekar wins final stage at Tour of Guangxi; Lennert van Eetvelt seals overall classification

Matevz Govekar of Bahrain - Victorious has won the final World Tour stage of the season, curiously for Slovenia who dominated the calendar. In a reduced bunch sprint stage 6 was decided, with Lennert van Eetvelt sealing the overall win as he resisted the attacks on the steep climbs.

The gaps were not big throughout this race with only one stage truly making the differences in the overall classification. Hence, the final circuit and hilly day in Nanning saw quite aggressive racing from the start from riders who still dreamt of GC success. So we had the very dangerous Tim Wellens make into the group but not only him; Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier and Esteban Chaves also threatened Lennert van Eetvelt's lead; Stan Dewulf, Tosh van der Sande and Michael Leonard.

A short and explosive stage, with GC and sprinter teams having interests behind, it led to a strong pace throughout the day. The gap never grew beyond two minutes and there was a ferocious chase before the final ascent which averaged over 10% but with 18 kilometers to go.

In the final ascent the group was caught as Victor Lafay and then Pavel Sivakov attempted to break through and assault the leader's jersey. They were strong moves that created gaps, but with Lennert van Eetvelt following closely, there was no collaboration and the groups began to unite behind. A few attacks were also coming off the front, as expected. Johannes Staune-Mittet made the effort to go clear but was caught with 5 kilometers to go.

A late attack from a Decathlon rider saw the leadout built by Arkéa get deorganized and lead to a chaotic sprint. Marijn van den Berg launched the sprint first but had to settle for second as Matevz Govekar put in a brilliant sprint to win his first World Tour race. His teammate Robert Stannard sprinted to third.

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