Peloton at their wits’ end? After wins number 15 and 16, Magnier also takes victory number 17 in China

It’s starting to become routine, but early Thursday morning, Paul Magnier also won stage three of the Tour of Guangxi. Once again, the stage came down to a sprint finish, where the Frenchman from Soudal Quick-Step proved dominant yet again, although Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) came quite close this time, finishing second.

So far, it’s been the Paul Magnier show in China. The Frenchman had already taken victory in both the first and second stages. While the first two days were mostly flat, the organizers included some rolling terrain in the finale of stage three, though the gradients were far from steep.

The opening phase of the 214-kilometer stage from Jingxi to Bama was flat, and a group of five riders took advantage early on. Liam Slock (Lotto), Simon Guglielmi (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Ryan Gibbons (Lidl-Trek), Ryan Mullen (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), and Zhen Li (China) broke away early in the day.

For Mullen, the adventure didn’t last long, as the Irishman was caught fairly quickly. For Gibbons, however, it was a special day, one of the final races of his career. The South African rider from Lidl-Trek is set to hang up his bike after the Chinese stage race. His teammate Mattias Skjelmose, who revealed he’s been racing with a herniated disc, abandoned the stage midway through.

The breakaway group was never given much freedom, with the peloton keeping them within about a minute and a half. For the Chinese rider Zhen, his time out front ended with 66 kilometers remaining, and another 30 kilometers later, Slock also had to drop back from the front.

Not long after, Gibbons decided to leave his breakaway companion Guglielmi behind and go solo. Behind him, Soudal Quick-Step was controlling the pace of the peloton, steadily reeling him in. In the slightly rolling final kilometers, Gibbons was caught with about 20 kilometers to go.

From there, a compact peloton raced toward a lightning-fast finish, and all eyes were on how Soudal Quick-Step would launch Magnier. The answer? Pretty well, though the Frenchman mostly relied on his own strength. With a powerful sprint, he narrowly held off Meeus, securing his seventeenth (!) victory of the year, an incredible feat for the rider from Laredo.