Paul Magnier crashes during the sprint as Milan Fretin strikes again at Tour of Guangxi

The Belgian survived a chaotic finale to beat Matteo Moschetti (Pinarello-Q36.5) and Erlend Blikra (Uno-X Mobility). 

Magnier, who had taken the race lead with his record-breaking seventh Tour of Guangxi stage win on Friday, went down hard following contact with Max Kanter (XDS Astana). 

He had road rash on his left shoulder but Soudal said he was not injured, and indicated he would start Sunday's final stage.

Despite 2,300 metres of climbing on the day's route, a largely flat final 50 kilometres made another bunch sprint the most likely outcome.

Six riders formed the day's breakaway, with Patrick Gamper and Jasha Sütterlin (Jayco AlUla) joined by Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto-Intermarché), Davide Formolo (Movistar), Brandon Rivera (Netcompany-Ineos) and Max Walker (EF Education-EasyPost). The move was eventually caught with 14 kilometres remaining as the sprint teams prepared for the final fast finish of the race.

Visma | Lease a Bike took control approaching the final five kilometres, but the sprint trains became increasingly disorganised as the line approached and the wide roads allowed teams to move-up. 

After Magnier and Frits Biesterbos (Picnic PostNL) crashed, Arvid de Kleijn opened the sprint early, but Fretin timed his effort to perfection, powering past to secure his second stage victory in China.