The peloton set off from rainy Chongzuo for a stage of roughly 179 kilometres over rolling terrain towards the finish in Jingxi. In the finale, the riders faced the only categorised climb of the day. Shortly after the start, a breakaway of six riders was allowed some space by the peloton.  

The breakaway’s effort came to an end in the closing phase. The last remaining escapees were caught five kilometres from the finish. Immediately afterwards, Jhonatan Narváez launched a late attack, but the peloton had its sights set on another bunch sprint. Behrens was in the mix but ultimately finished just outside the top ten. The 21-year-old German from Team Visma | Lease a Bike crossed the line in eleventh place.  

“Today Niklas was given the opportunity to try his luck in the sprint,” said sports director Jesper Mørkøv afterwards. “He was brought forward perfectly by his teammates in the final kilometres, but unfortunately got a bit boxed in amid the chaos. Because of that, he couldn’t quite show his full potential, but it was good to see him in the front. Tomorrow’s stage will be another tough one, but another sprint certainly can’t be ruled out.”