The third stage of the GREAT TOUR OF HUANGXI saw more than 20 riders fall before the race was even 30km into the race, with one of the pre-race favorites for the win, Honatan Narvaez (Ineos Grenadiers), and Australian champion Luke Plapp (Jayco Alura), The event was temporarily suspended after several riders, including last year's winner Milan Bader (Vimalies a Bike), abandoned.

Social media for the race also reported that race leader Max Kanter (Astana-Kazakstan) had fallen off the bike, but according to a live report from procyclingstats, he was among the riders who had returned to the peloton before word of the pause. However, six riders abandoned after the crash. [Robert Stannard (Bahrain Victorious), Mick van Dijk (Visma Lease-a-Bike), Pepijn Reindelink (Sürdal Quickstep), and Jonas Rucci (EF Education Easypost), who built a small gap, Artem Schmidt (Ineos Grenadiers), and Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarché Wanty), among others, counter-attacked.

They were in front less than 30 km into the race when the crash occurred, but the attackers were apparently caught before the peloton slowed, and a pause was subsequently put in place.

“The race was paused to allow all competitors who could continue to race to return to the peloton,” said a social media post by the GREE Tour of Guangxi.

The race was quickly resumed, but the riders, teams, and commissaires agreed to cancel the first intermediate sprint at the 38.8 km mark. However, three Category 3 climbs and a second intermediate sprint remained on the 214 km stage to Bama, the longest of the Tour.

Vegard Stake Rengen also withdrew from the race due to a crash, but fortunately UAE Team Emirates announced the good news on social media that “he is fine.”

EF Education - Easy Post announced that three riders, Esteban Chavez, Mikel Honoré, and Markel Beloki, were involved.

According to Visma-Lease a Bike, Bader abandoned the race because he injured his knee in a group crash, and a subsequent update revealed the reason for the crash from Bader's perspective.

“Someone next to me hit the wheel in front of me and hit me. I couldn't avoid him anymore, so we crashed headfirst,” Bader said on the Visma website. [I looked at my knee and knew right away that I didn't need to try any harder. It didn't look good at first, so I'm glad no one was more seriously injured.”

Bader suffered a deep gash below his left knee, but was stitched up by Visma's team doctor at the hotel and was soon able to walk again.

Narvaez also had to leave the race after “hitting his knee hard” in his second fall in as many days.

“It was a tough way to end my last race with the team, but I have really enjoyed the last six seasons. Thanks, Johnny!” Ineos Grenadiers posted on social media.

It was also confirmed early in the stage that Plapp, in his first race back after undergoing abdominal surgery following a crash at the Olympics, had abandoned.

The latest information from Jayco Arulla revealed that Plapp abandoned on the advice of his team doctor because he felt “dizzy” after a heavy crash. There were already three riders who did not start the third stage, and with the addition of the six retirements, the peloton was down to 119 riders by the halfway point of the six-day tour, the final race of the 2024 World Tour.