Astana’s Sergei Chernetskii finishes third at Gree-Tour of Guangxi
A successful finish of the 2018 season for Astana Pro Team, that finished sixth in the UCI World Tour ranking. Gianni Moscon won the overall classification, Fabio Jakobsen won the final stage after a bunch sprint in which Riccardo Minali finished eleventh. Luis Leon Sanchez also finished in the GC top 10, he took the eighth place.
- I want to thank the team for their trust and support during this Tour of Guangxi and throughout the year. It is great to be on the overall podium of this World Tour stage race, it's something I'm really proud of. After the decisive stage 4, we were looking for ways to climb up one or two steps, but in the end, we can be really happy with this result. It was a hard race because of the rain during most of the stages, but as a team, we were motivated from stage 1 to today's final stage. I think that is really impressive after a long season of racing. Again, a big thank you to the team, it has been a great race here in China. - Sergei Chernetskii.
- As I told the day before, we can be proud of the team. Also today, they were racing attentive, at the front of the race. Winning the team classification and having two of our riders in the overall top 10 of which one on the podium is a great result. It's a great way to finish the 2018 season, as we've finished sixth in the World Tour ranking as well. The riders and staff performed well throughout the year, with this Tour of Guangxi included. But from now on, the focus will be on 2019, where we will try again to perform even better. - sports director Dmitriy Fofonov.
The final day of the Gree-Tour of Guangxi was another rainy one, with start and finish in Guilin after 169 kilometers of racing. A breakaway of four riders took off in the first part of the stage and they got caught in today's final as everything ended up in a bunch sprint. Fabio Jakobsen won his second bunch sprint at this year's Tour of Guangxi, the Astana sprinter Riccardo Minali finished eleventh. After stage 4, the general classification didn't change anymore, making Gianni Moscon the overall winner. Sergei Chernetskii took the third place and Luis Leon Sanchez finished eighth overall. Astana Pro Team took the team classification as well, just 10 seconds in front of Quick-Step Floors. The team finished sixth in the 2018 World Tour ranking.