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The China Tour: Inside the Tour of Guangxi
The finish line in Jinchengjiang shimmers in a heat haze. Moments after a full-tilt bunch sprint, Tour of Guangxi competitors douse themselves in bottles of water in the 30°C mid-October weather. At the nearby podium, Chinese dragon dancers jump acrobatically, moving their fierce yellow-and-red puppet along while the crowd of roadside spectators requests selfies – and a few more unexpected things.
‘Brother, smoking, smoking?’ a friendly local says, offering a pack of cigarettes to Israel-Premier Tech sprinter Riley Pickrell. The Canadian declines politely before giving Cyclist his verdict on the Tour of Guangxi: ‘It’s kind of nuts.’
Not like other tours
Since 2017 the Tour of Guangxi has taken over from Il Lombardia as the final WorldTour race of the season, and it is a long way from that race in terms of both distance and setup.
There are no team buses here – riders sit in white tents pre-stage, protected from the sun’s rays – and no painted encouragement on the roads (even an ‘Allez Xi Jinping’ probably wouldn’t be tolerated here, given how the Chinese government feels about freedom of expression).
Each team has a translator helping with everything from logistics to the coffee shop run. At the hotel buffets many competitors opt for tuna instead of local meat; no point playing Chinese checkers with their guts or anti-doping test results.
Grand Tour challengers and Monument winners are thin on the ground at this race, which takes place in southeastern China, right on Vietnam’s doorstep. The most recognisable names are former Milan-San Remo winner Jasper Stuyven, sprinter Fabio Jakobsen and Chris Froome. (ProCyclingStats rates the race 70th on the calendar in terms of start list quality, just behind the Trofeo Laigueglia.) WorldTour teams Groupama-FDJ and Alpecin-Deceuninck have skipped the race altogether.
‘I wouldn’t say you put your hand up for it, but at the same time it’s not a bad thing,’ says Australian rider Lucas Hamilton of Jayco-AlUla. ‘This is a part of the world I never thought I’d see much of, so it’s a good chance to come here. It’s the beauty of cycling.’
When the race heads north into the Duyang mountains after an opening circuit race around Fangchenggang, the bunch rolls past sugar cane fields and bamboo plantations, silhouetted by wooded karst limestone mountains. It’s like a cycling race going on in a King Kong landscape, a far cry from the smoggy skies and polluted air that blighted China’s previous WorldTour race, the Tour of Beijing.
Going big for growth
This new Chinese adventure came about from a 2016 deal between the UCI and Wanda Group, the multinational conglomerate chaired by Chinese billionaire Wang Jialin. Tourist-friendly Guangxi was the chosen destination and the local government didn’t mess around before the race’s first edition: according to race director Olivier Senn, they built 600km of new roads and re-painted 35,000 houses on the route.
Government officials are also the ones who arrange barriers, get the roads cleaned, decide host cities and corral the army of volunteers. In the People’s Republic of China, run by the Chinese Communist Party, political desires hold considerable sway.
How many other races can boast a director of the provincial Communist Youth League Committee handing out podium prizes? Where else would you see a red banner above the podium ceremony bearing the message: ‘Promote Chinese Spirit of Sport for Realization of China Dream’? (Another sign across the road reads, ‘Welcome to Mashan – Home of Black Goats in China’.)
The Tour of Guangxi was started with the aim of developing Chinese cycling. Considering the immense resources and collective drive that could be devoted to the sport in China, there’s no reason to doubt that the country could produce a Grand Tour winner at some point in the future.
Undoubtedly, China possesses growth potential – bike maker Van Rysel is one of the Tour of Guangxi’s secondary sponsors (its owner, Decathlon, plans to open 20 to 30 stores annually in China over the next two years) and carbon product manufacturer XDS Carbon Tech is the new headline sponsor for Astana in 2025.
For now, however, as a flagship race in a country still lacking a developed cycling culture, the Tour of Guangxi is a drop in a vast ocean.
In terms of friendliness, though, the people in one of China’s poorest provinces are peerless. At one dinner in remote Bama, Cyclist and two other journalists have to put down our chopsticks to take over a hundred selfies with the townspeople.
It would be nice to believe this is because of the popularity of Cyclist in China, but it’s really just the sheer rarity of seeing Westerners. This is a taste of what it must feel like to be Tadej Pogačar.
‘You’re a bit like a zoo animal here,’ one pro rider says. Locals want to share a beer with visitors or, as Riley Pickrell discovered, give you a local cigarette.
Closed roads, open arms
The life experience on offer is refreshing. Britain’s DSM-Firmenich-PostNL talent Oscar Onley even plays an impromptu game of basketball with local kids one evening during his nightly walk. The streets are clean and safe, thoroughfares bustling with people dancing to music or playing mahjong.
It is a collective society: when a fellow member of the media is unable to pay for coffee, a Chinese stranger covers it for her. It’s a reminder that the Chinese people themselves are defined by more than the country’s politics or what the Western news cycle puts out about the nation.
While the hospitality is impressive, the race won’t win any carbon neutral awards, necessitating an 18,000km round trip for the Europe-based racers and retinue. The Tour of Guangxi will not be giving Tour de France directors sleepless nights for sporting intrigue either: five of its six stages finish in bunch sprints, with British fast-man Ethan Vernon winning a brace.
Nevertheless, the race adds to pro cycling’s globalisation. Ineos Grenadiers sport director Oli Cookson believes it’s good to have a race in China.
‘All areas of growth in the sport are really important. Even football is moving into the Middle East,’ he says. ‘You can’t deny the way the world is going and moving into different ventures, looking for capital elsewhere. And that will also complement the other races. The Tour of Flanders is incredible, as is Milan-San Remo and the Tour, but the Tour of Guangxi also has a place on the calendar.’
Safety first, and second
Racing on wide, four-lane roads with few corners removes much fighting for position, but you can never guarantee safety. Stage 3 sees a 20-rider pile-up, with riders going down at 70kmh on rain-slicked tarmac. Six riders abandon and the race is paused so that ambulances tracking the race can rejoin. The incident belies the race’s overzealous safety focus. Specially selected paid volunteers in red caps – some from the localities, others designated or government staff – line the road every 50 metres, whether in cities or the middle of nowhere.
This precaution is the result of cautious local government and police. On occasion, there are three layers of barriers – one immediately by the route, then a layer of police tape then another metal barrier, keeping regular townspeople ten metres back from the action at times.
‘I kept telling them, “Bring them forward,”’ says race director Olivier Senn of the spectator barriers. ‘But a lot of responsible people are scared of failure. And failure is a problem in Chinese culture.’
For all the race’s numerous sprints, Stage 5’s 4km finishing climb on Nongla, with pitches at 11%, is a serious decider. To the metronomic pounding of 30 Zhuang folk drummers at the top of the hill, Lotto-Dstny puncheur Lennert Van Eetvelt puts down some of his best career power numbers to outsprint eventual runner-up Onley. The race is a happy hunting ground for motivated young riders chasing ranking points: four of the race’s five stage winners are under 25, as well as the top three overall finishers.
Playing to the crowd
There are a few venerable greats alongside the whippersnappers too. Even in a country where following pro cycling might need a VPN to get past internet censorship, Chris Froome’s reputation precedes him. At the start of Stage 6, by the hulking spaceship-like white roof of the Nanning Culture and Art Center, the VIPs have made a beeline for him.
‘Can you wish my friend Jessie happy birthday, Chris?’ says a phone-wielding female Chinese fan by the Israel-Premier Tech van.
‘Happy birthday, Jessie,’ the four-time Tour de France winner smiles into her camera.
‘Can you take off your glasses and say it again?’
‘Happy birthday, Jessie,’ Froome repeats, without shades and, impressively, any hint of gritted teeth.
The 39-year-old has witnessed progress first-hand. He competed at the short-lived Tour of Beijing, China’s top-tier predecessor, which suffered from poor air quality and a lack of interest.
‘I’ve really seen a huge change in how the sport has evolved in China,’ Froome says. ‘In 2011 it felt like the WorldTour came to China, but China didn’t really recognise what professional cycling was. Whereas here, just look around,’ he says, gesturing at the 20 fans waiting to have their moment with the British legend. ‘There’s much more of a cycling culture now.
‘The hotels have been amazing, really comfortable. It definitely puts into context the ones we’re used to in Europe,’ he adds. ‘I didn’t know what to expect before coming here. I thought I might see a lot of big Chinese cities; I didn’t realise just how beautiful the nature and scenery would be along the route. I’m pleasantly surprised.’
Even after the last day’s racing around Guangxi’s regional capital, the action is not quite over. At a celebratory gala dinner in downtown Nanning before the 12-hour flight home, the peloton sinks a few beers while watching interminable speeches by UCI officials and flamboyant dancing on stage to the Pirates Of The Caribbean theme.
But topping the bill is a tourist-friendly song shown on screen, accompanying striking panoramas with English subtitled lyrics such as ‘Let’s get drunk in a field’ and ‘Come to Guangxi, the hydrangeas are very colourful’.
As if the local cigarettes and WorldTour ranking points on offer weren’t convincing enough: the Tour of Guangxi surprises to the very end.
Andy McGrath was at the Tour of Guangxi as a guest of Wanda Sports
Swiss precision
Guiding the Tour of Guangxi
As race director, Olivier Senn is the man in charge of everything that moves: convoy structure, UCI commissaires, TV production and team drivers. His role started in spring 2016 when Swiss sports events company Infront was contracted to make the race happen. Senn has since taken it on with his own agency, ProTouchGlobal, and brings his own team over. It stands to reason that the ones making the race run like clockwork are Swiss.
‘It’s just so different; the contrasts are so crazy,’ says Senn. ‘There are these big modern cities like Nanning. You go around one hill and you’re in the countryside, with farmers and their bulls pulling wooden carts with bamboo on the back.’
It has been both a learning experience and a teaching one, educating Chinese colleagues who were unfamiliar with the sport. At first, for instance, local TV production staff wanted to put a camera in the middle of the finishing straights with mats around it. Senn, who also directs the Tour de Suisse, made it clear that was a no-no.
As a supplier, Senn’s influence has limits. The local government decides the host cities and locations, and they are not always advantageous to sporting drama.
‘The last stage in Nanning, I told them to put the finish 5km after the downhill [of the circuit’s steep climb]. But now it’s 15km of flat to the finish because they want it to end next to the Cultural Centre. I can try to explain the sporting side, but to them that’s not the most important thing. They want to showcase the countryside and have a big sporting event in the province. They don’t really understand how cycling works.’
That may gradually change. Televised on national broadcaster CCTV and with more than 110 million total views on TikTok, the Tour of Guangxi is gaining eyeballs in China. The race is a way to showcase Guangxi as a tourist and cycling destination. There is early promise, with a mass participation ride in Nanning held on the last day attracting almost 1,000 participants. Cycling is on the rise in China.
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