GUILIN, China, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Fernando Gaviria of Quick Step Floors raised four fingers at the finishing line, signaling his fourth win in the 2017 Gree UCI WorldTour Tour of Guangxi as the Colombian cyclist finished first in the sixth and final stage on Tuesday.
Tim Wellens of Lotto Soudal kept his red jersey till the end and became the winner in the individual classification.
The stage 6 of the inaugural Tour of Guangxi was a 171km circle race which started and concluded in downtown Guilin with three sprints, two climbs and Yangshuo county as the turning point.
The stage was mostly level road and much less difficult than the previous queen's stage from Liuzhou to Guilin. Three jersey owners stayed in the peleton for the most part of the race, while a group three riders including Wang Meiyin of Bahrain Merida and green jersey owner Daniel Oss maintained a two-minite lead for a long time before they were caught up with in the final 3 kilometers.
Thanks to the tacit cooperation from his teammates, Gaviria was in a favorable position in the last 500m to fight for a place at the podium and he did not waste the effort of his team. Tim Wellens made no mistake in the final stage and became the first champion in the individual overall classification of Tour of Guangxi.
"I feel so happy to win this race at the end of the season. It was a difficult race because the opponents are very strong," said Wellens.
"I said earlier this August I would try my best in China and I did what I have promised. I will come here and hopefully fight for good result next year," he added.
Gaviria kept his blue jersey with a significant advantage. His teammate Julian Alaphilippe was the white jersey winner, and Daniel Oss of BMC won the green jersey.
In the Tour of Guangxi Women's Elite World Challenge held in Guilin on Tuesday, Maria Vittoria Sperotto of Bepink Cogeas finished first general classification, and Gracie Elvin of Orica Scott won the best sprinter in the race.
