In Yizhou Milan Fretin won the sprint of the fifth stage of the Tour of Guangxi, ahead of Italy’s Matteo Moschetti. The Cofidis Belgian, 25, had already won stage 3 in Bama on 15 October: it is his second World Tour win, both at this race. Third was Norway’s Erlend Blikra, then Joshua Giddings and Jordi Meeus.
A rolling stage that ends in a sprint
From Jinchengjiang to Yizhou was 170.6 km, hillier than the word “sprint” suggests. Three categorised climbs: the highest, second-category, at 547 metres after about 50 km; then two third-category ones. The last, 4.6 km at 3.9%, ended 49.4 km from the finish. Too little, and too far out, to split the bunch.
The peloton finished together: all 143 starters finished, 40 of them in Fretin’s time, 3h44’18”. Among them Fabio Jakobsen, Luke Lamperti and, among the general classification riders, Juan Ayuso and Neilson Powless. The average speed was 45.6 km/h, with 31 °C at the finish and a southerly wind gusting up to 35 km/h.
Fretin, second World Tour win in three days
Before the start the sprint was rated at 87.7%, Fretin at just 3.9%: fifth in our predictions, behind Paul Magnier (34.0%), Meeus, Max Kanter and Frits Biesterbos.
His first World Tour win came on 15 October in Bama, atop the longest stage of the race, 212.3 km from Jingxi: he beat Biesterbos and Meeus. In Yizhou he did it again, with Moschetti, Blikra and Meeus once more behind him.
For him it is the fifth win of 2026, the eleventh of his career. He opened the season on 20 February with a stage of the Vuelta a Andalucia; in August he won two stages of the TPC en Nouvelle-Aquitaine. In 2025 there were three: the Clasica de Almeria, a stage of the Algarve and the Ronde van Limburg. In 67 race days this year he has had six podiums and twenty top-ten finishes.
Moschetti second, the other Italians in the bunch
Matteo Moschetti, 30, of Pinarello-Q36.5, is the only Italian on the stage podium. Second place lifts him to tenth in the points classification, with 14 points. Matteo Milan (Groupama-Fdj United), 23, finished twelfth, still in the leading group.
Further back were Mattia Agostinacchio 46th, Davide Formolo 52nd, Andrea Bagioli 74th, Samuele Battistella 77th, Manlio Moro 98th, Alessandro Pinarello 103rd and Daniel Skerl 112th.
Formolo, of Movistar, remains the best Italian overall: 14th, 25” off the lead, and eighth in the mountains classification. Alessandro Pinarello (NSN Cycling Team) is 43rd at 26” and 14th among the young riders.
No change at the top
Paul Magnier did not win the stage but stays in the general classification leader’s jersey. The Frenchman from Soudal Quick-Step has already won stages 1 and 4, and also wears the points and young rider jerseys. The bonus seconds collected so far come to 26”: that is his margin.
Frits Biesterbos, the Dutchman from Team Picnic Postnl and winner of stage 2, is second at 10”. Kanter is third at 16”, Jasha Sütterlin fourth at 18”, Jhonatan Narvaez fifth at 19”. Fretin is fourth in the points classification, behind Magnier, Biesterbos and Kanter.
The mountains jersey belongs to Baptiste Veistroffer, and NSN Cycling Team lead the team classification.
The final stage climbs to Nongla
Stage 6 leaves Yizhou at 4am Italian time on 18 October and reaches Nongla after 165.6 km. After a third-category climb 48.5 km from the finish, the closing section is all at altitude: 4.5 km of first-category climbing at 7.0%, with the finish at the top.
After five stages that mostly suited the sprinters, the race will be decided on a single climb. Recent editions have been settled by small margins: 15” for Paul Double in 2025, 5” for Lennert van Eetvelt in 2024. The last Italian to win was Gianni Moscon in 2018, by 9” over Felix Grossschartner.
The stage top ten
| # | Rider | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Milan Fretin | Cofidis | 3h44’18” |
| 2 | Matteo Moschetti | Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team | s.t. |
| 3 | Erlend Blikra | Uno-X Mobility | s.t. |
| 4 | Joshua Giddings | Lotto Intermarché | s.t. |
| 5 | Jordi Meeus | Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe | s.t. |
| 6 | Max Kanter | XDS Astana Team | s.t. |
| 7 | Sam Welsford | Netcompany Ineos | s.t. |
| 8 | Arvid De Kleijn | Tudor Pro Cycling Team | s.t. |
| 9 | Cees Bol | Decathlon CMA CGM Team | s.t. |
| 10 | Oded Kogut | NSN Cycling Team | s.t. |
General classification after stage 5
| # | Rider | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paul Magnier | Soudal Quick-Step | 18h43’24” |
| 2 | Frits Biesterbos | Team Picnic Postnl | +10″ |
| 3 | Max Kanter | XDS Astana Team | +16″ |
| 4 | Jasha Sütterlin | Team Jayco Alula | +18″ |
| 5 | Jhonatan Narvaez | UAE Team Emirates XRG | +19″ |
| 6 | Cees Bol | Decathlon CMA CGM Team | +20″ |
| 7 | Enzo Paleni | Groupama-Fdj United | +20″ |
| 8 | Jordi Meeus | Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe | +22″ |
| 9 | Neilson Powless | EF Education-Easypost | +22″ |
| 10 | Martin Tjøtta | Uno-X Mobility | +23″ |
The race in numbers
- Average speed
- 45.6 km/h 170.6 km in 3h44’18”, the winner’s time.
- Weather at the finish
- 31 °C 0.2 mm of rain; in Yizhou, between 14 and 17 local time.
- Wind at the finish
- 15–16 km/h From the south, gusts up to 35 km/h; same hours.
- Selection index
- 0 out of 100 Of 143 finishers: 137 within 30 seconds of the winner, 143 within 2 minutes, all within 10 minutes (him included). It runs from 0, a bunch sprint, to 98, a solo finish.
Report written with the help of Mnemosyne.
Sources
- Results and times: UCI, official results.
- Escape Collective, “Fretin sprints to his first WorldTour win in Guangxi”.
- Weather: Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0).
- Photo: Nicola, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
