Tour of Guangxi? Tour of Paul! Magnier takes his fifth in the final stage, Double doesn't crack under pressure and takes overall victory

After four days of dominance by Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step), Saturday was the day for the climbers and GC contenders. The decision had to be made on the steep sections of the Nongla climb. It came pretty early: Paul Double (Jayco-AlUla) broke away before the steepest parts, and no one was able to catch him. The Brit took the lead in the GC.

He had to defend it on a challenging circuit in Nanning. It was almost entirely flat, except for a very steep climb in Qingxiushan Park. With an average gradient of 11.5% over 1.5 kilometers, it was a real calf burner, and it had to be conquered five times. The early breakaway group of four Frenchmen (Ewen Costious, Léandre Lozouet, Nans Peters, and Clément Davy) was completed by Australian Reuben Thompson.

There were some good climbers in the group, but the pace was high in the peloton. So high, in fact, that halfway through the race the pack was torn apart. After the third climb of the day, only about 25 riders remained. UAE Team Emirates - XRG had missed the break and had to chase. Not much later, the gap was closed, bringing the peloton back together again.

On the penultimate climb in Qingxiushian, EF Education - EasyPost took the lead, but the peloton was not completely broken up. A nasty crash involving Frederik Wandahl (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) and Diego Pescador (Movistar) shook up the race: both riders were severely injured, especially the Dane, who had serious injuries all over his body, including his face.

With just over 20 kilometers to go, the riders approached the final climb. Would things explode? In the leading group, they certainly did: Costiou jumped away, but from the peloton, Victor Lafay, Saturday's number 2, decided to attack. Teammate Peters was the perfect pawn to pick up, putting Double under pressure.

He caught up with Costiou and was the first to reach the top of the climb. After that, it was still a long flat stretch to the finish line, but his lead was comfortable. His British rival had only one teammate who could work for him: Jayco-AlUla clearly needed help. That help came in the form of UAE Team Emirates - XRG, and so he was caught up after all. This left a group of 30 riders to battle for the victory.

However, a large group came back, including Magnier. This seemed to leave the rest with no chance. Several attacks by XDS-Astana were averted, after which a sprint was inevitable. The winner? Magnier, of course. He took his fifth victory, and Double was the overall winner.