World's Top Cycling Race Lands in China, "Gree World Cycling Tour of Guangxi" opens in 2017
01.12.2016
The signing ceremony
Wanda Group Chairman Wang Jianlin addresses the ceremonyOn December 1, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the People's Government of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Wanda Group signed the agreement in Beijing. Starting from October 2017, authorized by the UCI, the "Gree World Road Cycling Tour of Guangxi" and the "Gree Women’s World Road Cycling Tour of Guangxi,” hosted by the People's Government of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Wanda Sports Company, will be held in Guangxi annually. The tours are among the top cycling contests in the world. Along with the tours come the world premier event for cycling—the UCI Cycling Gala. These three important cycling events will make Guangxi a world famous place for cycling. The UCI will also cooperate with Wanda Sports to hold the BMX "World City Cycling Championship" in selected Chinese cities. Brian Cookson, the president of the UCI, Cui Fuxiong, secretary general of the Asian Cycling Federation, Lan Tianli, deputy chairman of the Guangxi Autonomous Region, representatives from Gree Group, and Wang Jianlin, chairman of Wanda Group participated in the signing ceremony.
Wanda Sports also signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Gree Group, making Gree the title sponsor of the "Gree World Road Cycling Tour of Guangxi" for five consecutive years. The reason Gree is sponsoring the tour is the race’s value and influence, the company says.
The cycling races have a history of more than one hundred years, including the road race, track race, mountain race and BMX city race. Among them, the most influential is the road cycling race. The UCI World Tour is the most important and the highest-level road cycling race. The world famous Tour de France is one of the stops of the tour. There are 18 professional cycling teams, and the Tour de France is famous because all the 18 teams participate in the race every year. "Gree World Road Cycling Tour of Guangxi " will become the only world tour in Asia. More than 10 teams will be invited to participate in the first race and more than one hundred topnotch cyclists will compete for championship in Guangxi. The scale and level of the race will rival other world's top road cycling races.
The total length of the route of the first World Cycling Tour of Guangxi is about one thousand kilometers and it is divided into six stages. The race will last for six days, starting from Beihai City, passing Qinzhou City, Nanning City, Liuzhou City and eventually ending in Guilin City. The route runs through Guangxi from the south to the north, crossing plains, hills and mountains, passing the Beibu Gulf area, the rivers and mountains around the Lijiang River, the capital city of the autonomous region, Nanning, and the historical site of Liuzhou. It displays the spectacular natural scenes, historical culture and ethnic customs of Guangxi. The aim is to create the most beautiful cycling experience like no other in the world for participants and showcase the unique appeals of Guangxi and China.
The "UCI Cycling Gala" is one of the most influential single sports award-presenting ceremony in the world. BMX is an emerging bicycle sport. It became an official Olympics sport in 2008. After going through government approvals, the UCI will work with Wanda Sports to hold the BMX "World City Cycling Championship" in China. The participants will all be national teams and the host city will be selected from big cities in China. What's more, UCI will also cooperate with Wanda to select a Chinese city and build the Asian training center there.
More and more people in China are participating in cycling, making it a new national sport after long-distance running. The hosting of "Gree World Road Cycling Tour of Guangxi" for men and women and the "UCI Cycling Gala" in China will invite more people to participate in this sport, enhance China's status in the field of cycling in the world, drive the growth of the cycling industrial chain and serve as a good example for the development of the Chinese sports industry.
Wang Jianlin, chairman of Wanda Group, said Wanda has the confidence and ability to build the “Tour of Guangxi” into a top race in the world in five years.