On wide, mostly flat highways, there were no significant breakaways in the first half of the race, until the duo of Liang Hongyu (China Chongming–Liv–Champion System) and Anastasia Chulkova (BePink–La Classica) established a one-minute lead over the peloton.

Their advantage was slowly broken down, predominately due to the work of the Team Hitec Products riders, and they were reabsorbed into the peloton with 7 kilometres (4.3 miles) to go.

The race started at the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center and took place almost entirely on wide, straight highways, with corners predominantly being expansive ninety-degree bends.

Van der Breggen led the World Cup standings as the racing moved to China for the Tour of Chongming Island, with 290 points, but her Rabo–Liv were not invited to take part in the event.

[5] Closing towards the finish in a bunch sprint, Wiggle–Honda had intended Chloe Hosking to be the sprinter to try and win, but she got caught up behind a crash in the final kilometre, and so Giorgia Bronzini acted as a lead-out for Annette Edmondson.