After four bunch sprints in as many stages, the riders faced the queen stage of this Chinese race on Saturday. The finish line was set at the top of a hill in Nongla, known for its steep final kilometer with an average gradient of almost fifteen percent. Last year, Milan Vader won the stage finishing on the same hill.

Bouwman had studied the stage profile closely. On the mostly flat roads at the beginning of the stage, he broke away with three other riders. The quartet was seen as dangerous, so the peloton kept control all day long. As a result, their lead never exceeded a few minutes. At the base of the climb to Nongla Scenix Spot, Bouwman left his breakaway companions behind, going all out for the win. However, he was soon reeled in by the chasing peloton. Van Eetvelt proved to be the strongest of the group, while Johannes Staune-Mittet finished thirteenth and now sits fourteenth in the general classification.

"It wasn’t necessarily the plan to be in the breakaway of the day," Bouwman admits. "The GC and sprinter teams have been holding the reins tightly all week. I had a bad crash recently, so I’m just happy to have made it to this race. I felt a bit better today when I woke up compared to the other days. I thought to myself: I only have two race days left for the team. It would be great to attack and show myself on one of those days. And it worked out. The four of us went full gas from the start, but it wasn’t enough. I had a good day, though. Tomorrow, I’ll enjoy one last day and give it my best, then head home and enjoy my holiday."