The first stage Tour of Guangxi turned out to be the battle of the strong Italian duo Jonathan Milan and Elia Viviani(IGD). It was Viviani who managed to edge his lead with 50 meters to go. Milan is now 2nd in the general classification, 4 seconds behind his compatriot and leading the best young rider classification.

“It was a really nice day I think. We did not have really big pace during the race, and in the end the race was really good and really big. The guys did a really amazing job, bringing me in the crucial position, top 10 in the last corner and we rode perfectly. I started early because the guy in front of me stopped. I started almost 280 meters to go with my sprint, which was a bit too long. In the end Elia Viviani won. I could have started later, but this was what I could do today.”

“Of course we are looking for something more, but now we have this white jersey as the best young rider. I have to say thanks to my teammates. They did a perfect job supporting me during the day. Tomorrow we will see. It will be another day and we will recover as much as possible. Tomorrow we will do full gas again!”

Gorazd Štangelj, head of sports director, commented: “Actually what we thought was kind of sprint from behind because of wide road, some headwind and slightly uphill. But Jonathan was in position where he couldn’t wait no more because they were coming from behind, so Jonathan preferred to start early. He was just a bit too short but at the end of the day okay, we were second, but we understood he has good legs and team did great job. We are close and we have plenty of occasions to be better.”

Stage 2 riders are traveling from Beihai to Qinzhou. The race covers 149.6 kilometers with only 619 meters of elevation, which again will favour our Italian sprinter.