A rolling stage seemed like it would be the ideal opportunity for breakaway specialists, but in the end the fast men survived the hills, and fought it out at Jinchengjiang. They included Bahrain’s Alberto Bruttomesso, who launched his sprint in the final 250 meters and finished third, just behind Ethan Vernon(IPT) and Max Kanter(AST). It is his first WorldTour podium in his debut year. 

“Actually, this last part of the season I am feeling very good. I have 3 top 10s and one podium in CRO race. And also the second day here was good. Actually all the stages have been. Today I was struggling a lot on the last climb. I was dropped. I came back with around 20, 30 riders and then full focused in the sprint. I recovered well,” said the 20-year-old Italian. 

“Maybe I started a bit too early, but if I waited more I could have been boxed in, so in the end it’s okay like this. A good final of the season, and hopefully a good start of 2025. Actually it was a crazy final. We did not find each other, so in the end I took the wheel of Max Kanter, later on Ethan Vernon’s wheel. I followed my instinct and it’s okay like this.”

Bruttomesso concluded with his ambition for the coming season:” I am happy with my first season because it started well. In Antalya with a podium, and I got a lot of experiences also in Belgium races. And here in the final race of the season I have some opportunities. I tried to catch them and get the best result possible. It’s my first time going to China. Tour of Guangxi is a really nice race. Super warm welcome, never seen warmer welcome.”

Lead sports director Gorazd Štangelj commented: “We expected more in the sprints, especially yesterday on stage 3. We spent a lot of energy not bringing home what we would like to. The boys were trying hard, but we still need to learn something. We are not the luckiest team, but we are in the game all the time. Let’s hope for the best for Robert and Torstein for the queen stage.”