Stage 3 of the Gree-Tour of Guangxi was temporarily paused less than 30km into the day of racing after a mass crash with more than 20 riders coming down and a number being forced to abandon, including one of the pre-race favourites Jhonatan Narváez (Ineos Grenadiers) and last year’s winner Milan Vader (Visma-Lease a Bike).
The race social media also reported that those who came down included race leader Max Kanter (Astana-Qazaqstan) but he was one rider that the live cover on procyclingstats noted had returned to the peloton before word of the pause came through. However, at least five riders abandoned following the crash.
After the race set out from Jingxi on Thursday morning the attacks quickly started flying, with Robert Stannard (Bahrain-Victorious), Mick van Dijke (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Pepijn Reinderink (Soudal-Quickstep) establishing a small gap as did a group of counter attackers Jonas Rutsch (EF Education-EasyPost), Artem Schmidt (Ineos Grenadiers) and Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarché-Wanty).
“The race has now been paused in order for all riders who can continue racing to return [to] the peloton,” said a social media post by the Gree-Tour of Guangxi .
Visma-Lease a Bike said Vader’s abandon came after he injured his knee in the mass crash, while Narváez also had to leave the race after his second crash in as many days delivered a “knock on his knee”.
