The second stage took the peloton from Chongzuo to Jingxi over a distance of approximately 180 kilometers. Along the way, the eight-kilometer climb of National Road was the only obstacle, but it posed no threat to the sprinters.

Dries De Bondt, Jonas Rickaert, Martin Tjøtta, and Chenglu Liu went on the attack after the start. As in the opening stage, the average speed during the first few hours hovered around 50 kilometers per hour. With just over 30 kilometers remaining, the riders began the climb of National Road.

Javier Romo and Jhonatan Narváez accelerated from the peloton on the gradual climb. The two bridged across to the breakaway, but the peloton caught up shortly afterward. Several more attacks followed after the summit. Louis Barré, who has ambitions for the general classification, was quick to respond to each acceleration. Ultimately, no one managed to get away.

For the second consecutive day, the peloton prepared for a bunch sprint. Biesterbos edged out race leader Paul Magnier by the narrowest of margins. Fabio Jakobsen finished 16th, just as he did in the opening stage. Barré rode an active race and is already looking forward to the upcoming hilly stages.

“Today, I tried to pick up a few bonus seconds, but a lot of riders had the same goal,” Barré says. “The remaining stages are tougher than the first two, and I’m looking forward to them. We have several cards to play as a team, so we want to race aggressively. Our strength often lies in the way we attack, and we’ll try to do the same here. We’re hoping to have one of our riders on the final podium on the last day."