Paul Magnier restarts his dominance in the Tour of Guangxi with his first sprint victory

The French cyclist Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) added its first victory in the first stage of Guangxi Tour (People’s Republic of China), which takes place between October 13 and 18, a competition in which in 2025 they won five of the six days of the race.

Magnier accumulate 14 wins from stage to 2026, including one in Return to Germany and three in the Giro d’Italia, in addition to the points jersey both in the ‘Corsa Rosa’ as in the Return to the Algarve and the Tour of Slovakia.

Second position at the finish went to the Australian Sam Welsford (Netcompany INEOS) and the third, for the German Max Kanter (XDS Astana Team), all with a time of 3 hours and 23 seconds. The Colombian Juan Sebastian Molano (UAE Team Emirates) was 32nd, and the Spanish Pau Miguel (Bahrain), 51st.

The stage, with departure and arrival in the town of Chongzuo, It included 149.2 kilometers, with an undulating route and several small walls, short but intense, in the final stretch of the day. There was a lot of movement in the first section, with several attempts to form a breakaway.

Finally, he consolidated himself with just three riders: the American Neilson Powless (EF Education), the Norwegian Fredrik Dversnes (One-X) and the Austrian Patrick Gamper (Jayco). Thanks to the work of Soudal Quick-Step and the rest of the sprinters’ teams, the escapees were neutralized in the absence of 8 kilometers.

He Magnier team He continued to control the different attempted attacks, so that the entire platoon arrived together at the last kilometer. On arrival, no one could cough French, willing to consecrate himself as the best sprinter of the year.

The second stage, 179 kilometers long and starting in Chongzuo and arrival in Jingxi, presents the first mountainous difficulty of the route, 30 kilometers from the finish line, a second category pass with around a 3% average slope.

In Guangxi, the race that closes the World Tour season, Men like the Spaniard are called to compete in the general classification Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek), the French Kevin Vauquelin (Netcompany INEOS), the British Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5) or the Ecuadorian Jhonatan Narváez (UAE).