In the fourth stage of the Chinese stage race, the riders faced four categorised climbs. Six riders were part of the early breakaway and gained a maximum five-minute lead. After the attackers were caught, Behrens saw his chance to attack.

The 21-year-old German rode several kilometres alone in front of the peloton, but was unable to prevent a bunch sprint. Magnier sprinted to his fourth victory this week. Sports director Jesper Mørkøv was satisfied with the team's performance once again.

"We can look back on a good day. After the first climb, a strong leading group broke away and took a comfortable lead. The sprint teams had to dig really deep to catch up with the leaders. Once they had done so, we wanted to go for it with Niklas. It was a strong attempt, but unfortunately it wasn't enough to prevent the bunch sprint. All in all, it's nice that he's showing himself in this way."

After four sprint stages, tomorrow it's the climbers' turn. "Tomorrow will be the decisive day for the general classification. Although the first part of the stage is flat, the battle for the stage victory will be fought on the final climb. It would be great if we could make a bid for a good result with Cian", Mørkøv said.