Milan Fretin wins in Guangxi after an ill-fated sprint by Magnier, as Biesterbos takes the lead

Milan Fretin (Cofidis) has achieved his first WorldTour victory by winning the third stage of the Tour de Guangxi 2026. The Belgian was the fastest in a finish marked by problems for Paul Magnier, who lost the support of one of his pedals while contesting the sprint. Frits Biesterbos came close to victory again with a second place that allows him to take the lead from the Frenchman.

Fretin takes advantage of a chaotic sprint to debut his WorldTour palmarès

The third day of the Tour de Guangxi, the longest of this edition with 212 kilometers between Jingxi and Bama, presented a more demanding route than the previous ones, with several climbs in its second half. However, the sprinters' teams once again controlled the race.

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Follow Brújula Bike on Google

A post shared by Tour of Guangxi (@tourofguangxi.official)

RECOMENDADO

Picnic PostNL end their WorldTour drought in Guangxi with an unexpected win for Frits Biesterbos

Paul Magnier wins the opening stage of the Tour of Guangxi and overtakes Gaviria’s stage-win record

Another car enters a UCI race as the peloton demands urgent safety measures

How to change the feel of the brakes without having to buy new ones

DT Swiss expands its gravel suspension range with the new F 132 and releases the F 132 ONE

Paul Seixas is close to deciding his future: Decathlon prepares a mega-offer to keep him

Jasha Sütterlin (Jayco AlUla), Tobias Bayer (Alpecin-Premier Tech), and Ruidong Wang (Chinese national team) were the day's breakaway, reaching an advantage of about three minutes. The work of Soudal Quick-Step and Decathlon CMA CGM ultimately neutralized their attempts about 20 kilometers from the finish.

The outcome was once again in the hands of the sprinters, although this time the favorites had to face a particularly chaotic finish.

Paul Magnier seemed well positioned to achieve his second victory of the week, but in the midst of acceleration, one of his feet slipped off the pedal, losing any chance of contesting the win.

Milan Fretin took advantage of his position to win ahead of Frits Biesterbos and Jordi Meeus. The Belgian from Cofidis thus achieves his ninth professional victory, but the first in a race of the highest international circuit.

Also noteworthy was Fabio Jakobsen, who finished fourth and achieved his best result since joining Visma | Lease a Bike. The Dutchman moved up positions in the final meters, although he had to brake momentarily during the sprint.

Biesterbos completes his great week with the lead

After achieving his first professional victory yesterday and giving Picnic PostNL its first WorldTour win of 2026, Frits Biesterbos has once again demonstrated his good form.

His second place allows him to wear the leader's jersey in the general classification, tied on time with Paul Magnier, but ahead due to the sum of his positions in the three stages contested. Max Kanter occupies third place, ten seconds behind.

The Tour de Guangxi will continue this Friday with its fourth stage, between Bama and Tian'e, a medium mountain day with nearly 2,700 meters of accumulated elevation gain that could offer the first significant differences among the general classification contenders.

Classification of the third stage of the Tour de Guangxi 2026

1. Milan Fretin (Cofidis) – 4:31:55
2. Frits Biesterbos (Picnic PostNL) – +00
3. Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) – +00
4. Fabio Jakobsen (Visma | Lease a Bike) – +00
5. Arvid de Kleijn (Tudor Pro Cycling) – +00