The UCI has announced an agreement with Wanda Sports which will see a new six-day stage race, the Tour of Guangxi, added to the World Tour next season. The deal will also see a number of other cycling developments intended to grow the sport in China.
Inside The Games reports that the Tour of Guangxi will take place in October next year. An elite women’s race will be run alongside it, although that will be added to the Women’s World Tour before 2018. Both races will also be linked with mass participation events.
The race is the latest in a series of additions to the 2017 World Tour calendar with 10 other events having been added in August.
Dalian Wanda Group's chairman, Wang Jianlin, the richest man in China, said: “We are extremely pleased to be announcing this investment in cycling in China. This partnership with the UCI and the region of Guangxi represents a major addition to our sporting portfolio. We know that China has a tremendous potential in cycling and we are proud that Wanda Sports will be instrumental in realising that potential, with the support of great partners.”
It was also announced that the first three editions of the UCI Urban Cycling World Championships will take place in China in 2017, 2018 and 2019. The event will bring together Mountain Bike Cross-Country Eliminator, Trials and BMX Freestyle Park events.
The UCI Cycling Gala, which was hosted by Abu Dhabi in 2015 and 2016, will also move to China for 2017, taking place in the mountain city of Guilin, which will host the final stage finish of the Tour of Guangxi.
Wanda Sports is also to build a cycling centre to serve as a satellite to the UCI World Cycling Centre in Aigle, Switzerland. Here, promising athletes supported and funded by Wanda Sports will have access to an international competition 250m indoor track, a BMX track and a road circuit.
UCI President Brian Cookson said:
“We are absolutely delighted to announce this partnership with Wanda Sports which will provide a huge boost to cycling in China and I would like to thank Wanda Sports for their support and commitment to our sport. The UCI's main role is to grow and develop cycling globally and China provides us with a wonderful opportunity to engage with literally hundreds of millions more people.
“In addition to staging races, it is crucially important that we have facilities to develop young athletes and I am particularly pleased that Wanda Sports will build and fund a development centre linked to the UCI World Cycling Centre in Switzerland. In Rio, we had 34 former or current UCI WCC trainees competing for Olympic medals and with this investment by Wanda, it is clear that in the future we will see more and more Chinese athletes competing at top international level in all cycling disciplines.”
Straight into the sun is perhaps an exaggeration, but at that time it would be about ESE, and there are bits of the road which head roughly SSE, so...
7 October was just a bit of harmless fun until the "msm" ramped it up.
It's not censored if you just pirate it
an example of Kesgraves "best cycling infrastructure in the country" https://maps.app.goo.gl/GsCMbzDUTPdq59qS9
They are not going full gas at every point. They would destroy themselves. And tactics, they save themselves for when effort is really needed....
It turns out that that is national police policy. We found out from this process that there is national 'secured by design' policy which causes...
Been available for quite a while, full GRX mechanical 12 speed. Probably around the same time as 105 mechanical 12 speed if I were to guess.
Less harmful citrus degreaser is easy to find at £8 or less for 5 litres. Works ok for me, even diluted up to 4:1. Both paraffin and white spirit...
Nope, it's to keep your straps down and quieter. Plus most sunglasses are polycarbonate and aren't going to shatter like glass anyway
And, more seriously, where's the coverage of the closure of the cycle lane which forces you to cycle on the Totton bypass.