The 2025 Tour of Guangxi concludes under the banner of Paul Magnier and Paul Double. The French sprinter, already winner of 4 stages this week, served up his fifth victory by conquering the final stage of the short Chinese stage race.

At the finish line in Nanning, the native of Laredo imposed himself ahead of Stanislaw Aniolkowski (Cofidis) and Paul Penhoët (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), tenacious opponents just like Victor Lafay who, as second in the general classification, tried multiple times to assault Double's red jersey without success.

In the end, it was the British rider from Jayco-AlUla (perfectly supported by his teammates) who climbed to the top of the podium, closing the general classification with a 15-second advantage over the Frenchman and 16 seconds over Jhonathan Narvaez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).

THE RACE REPORT. After paying homage to Ryan Gibbons (Lidl-Trek) and Nans Peters (both at their last career race), the stage immediately saw the French rider from Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale break away along with Clement Davy (Groupama - FDJ), Reuben Thompson (Lotto) and Léandre Lozouet (Arkéa - B&B Hotels). Among the many who tried to move along the first climb to the mountain prime of Qingxiushan, Ewen Costiou (Arkéa - B&B Hotels) managed to rejoin in a second moment, going on a great solo action to beef up the breakaway group. The situation remained unchanged throughout the second lap with the group, pulled by Soudal Quick-Step riders, as happened during the week, setting the pace to prevent the advantage from growing too much. Thus, without any surprises, they arrived at the third lap where, behind the escapees, a split in the peloton created two groups for a few kilometers, which however reunited after the Qingxiushan climb under the push of UAE riders who, with Narvaez left behind, got down to work contributing to closing the gap. The fourth lap saw EF Education take command of operations, setting the pace both uphill (where riders like Skerl, Shmidt, Norsgaard and Walscheid lost contact) and on the flat, thus reducing the disadvantage to 30" from the attackers at the start of the final lap.

In the last 27 kilometers, French riders stood out with Costiou detaching all other escapees on the climb and Victor Lafay doing even better by breaking away solo and catching and dropping all the initial attackers. With 20 seconds at the end of the descent, the virtual red jersey continued his attempt, but behind him the Jayco riders, assisted by UAE riders, started pulling at full throttle and with 12 kilometers to go, they brought him back into the group. Without many of the top sprinters, the final kilometers saw continuous attacks to prevent another sprint: among these, Fausto Masnada, Anton Charmig (XDS-Astana) and an indomitable Lafay tried, but none of them managed to make the difference, and so for the fifth time in six stages, the stage victory was decided in a sprint. Here, Paul Magnier, after rejoining the group 9 kilometers from the finish, once again proved unstoppable, winning ahead of Aniolkowski and Penhoët and thus certifying his success in the points classification.

Like him, Simon Guglielmi (Arkéa - B&B Hotels), winner of the mountain classification, Jørgen Nordhagen (Visma Lease a Bike), winner of the young rider classification, and a very happy Paul Double also celebrated and mounted the podium. Having averted the various attacks by a tough Lafay in the final lap with the help of his teammates, he took home the red jersey of the general classification, thus closing his first season with Jayco-AlUla with 5 overall victories.