NANNING, China, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Fabio Jakobsen of Quick Step Floors won the third stage of the 2018 Tour of Guangxi on Thursday in 2:43:54, taking the overall lead from fellow Dutchman Dylan Groenewegen with a combined time of 8:24:17.

The third stage of the Tour of Guangxi was a 125.4km level-road race with two sprints around Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Racers started and concluded their race at the landmark Minzu Square, situated near the Yongjiang River.

22-year-old Jakobsen scored his sixth victory of the year as a neo pro, making it 72 in total for Quick Step. "We've been winning the whole year with many different riders", Jakobsen said. "We're very happy with our 2018 season."

Owain Doull (Team Sky), Manuele Boaro (Bahrain-Merida), and Nathan van Hooydonck (BMC Racing) were reined with 7km to go, with Doull being awarded the day's most active rider. The rainy conditions made it a very challenging sprint on the longest finishing line of the whole cycling season.

Along with Jasha Sutterlin (Movistar), Doull, Boaro and van Hooydonck set the pace from the gun. Opening a gap of two minutes at 10km but no more in the first half of the race, as the LottoNL-Jumbo, Bora-Hansgrohe and Sunweb teams stabilized the time difference at around 1:45 the whole way.

After one of the four 31km laps in and around Nanning, Sutterlin decided to wait for the peloton. The leading trio reached a maximum advantage of 2:15 at the half way mark when it started to rain.

"It seemed like the last kilometer started 9km from the finish on this long straight line", Jakobsen commented. "I just followed the team because those past two days, I was wrong to do it on my own. For the future, I should remember how it unfolded today with the team working to perfection for me. Cycling is all about winning."

The fourth stage is a 152.2km mountain race from Nanning to Nongla scenic area in Guangxi's undulating Mashan County.