Motivation is nine-tenths of the law at this point in the year. When Milan Vader expressed an interest in riding the Tour of Guangxi, Jumbo-Visma management figured the trip to China might be worth the effort after all. Any thoughts of sitting out the final WorldTour race of the season were put to one side.
Vader’s enthusiasm for the adventure was based on what he had read online about the decisive climb to Nongla on stage 4, and the ascent proved as appealing in reality as it had done in theory. After the peloton was whittled down on the lower slopes, the Dutchman bounded clear inside the final kilometre to claim his first professional victory, six seconds clear of Remy Rochas (Cofidis).
“I think I was the first one in the team who asked if he could go to China,” Vader smiled after pulling on the red jersey of race leader. “At first, they were laughing a bit, then they said, ‘Ok let’s see if we can find some guys, then you can go.’”
Vader made his name as a mountain biker before joining Jumbo-Visma last year at the relatively advanced age of 26, and he figured the violence of the effort required on the short, sharp climb to Nongla was ideally suited to a rider with his attributes.
“I just looked at the profile on Veloviewer, and it looked good as the whole day was flat before the uphill finish. I knew it would suit me,” said Vader, who distanced men like Hugh Carthy (EF Education-EasyPost) and Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar) to claim the honours. “An effort of two minutes, that’s really a speciality that I took from mountain bike, so that’s what I kept in mind when I attacked. I said I’d just go full gas and then see what happens.”
Crash
Cruelly, the road in Nongla continued to climb beyond the finish line, and Vader had only scarcely managed to unclip his pedals before he ground to a halt. He appeared to be in a place far beyond words as he lay on the roadside to recover, and it was only when his teammate Steven Kruijskwijk reached his side that Vader began to acknowledge his triumph.
Half an hour later, after the podium ceremony had ended, Vader was still struggling to put words on his first professional win, a milestone that seemed unthinkable when he suffered a life-threatening crash at least year’s Itzulia Basque Country, breaking his spine in eleven places. He would spend twelve days in an induced coma in Bilbao, and he had to learn to walk again before he was eventually able to continue his rehabilitation in the…
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