The Cycling Blog

Move over France, there is a new sheriff in town. China is apparently moving to establish a competitive cycyling tour in the not so distant future.

Authorities from China and Hong Kong have set their sights on establishing a competitive tour covering all southeast coastal provinces of China that will one day become an Asian version of the Tour de France. Announcing the inaugural Tour of Hong Kong-Shanghai, Li Xin, vice-president of the China Cycling Association, said their ultimate goal would be having a tour from the Yangtze Delta of Shanghai to the Pearl River Delta of Hong Kong through provinces along the southeast coast of China. “We hope the tour will grow from strength to strength. Our target is to make it a super race classification in five years,” said Li. “Coastal provinces such as Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Fujian, Guangdong and Jiangxi will be reached by the tour and hopefully it will become an Asian version of the Tour de France in future.” The inaugural tour has a budget of six million yuan and offers prize money of $300,000. A total of 18 teams will compete in the inaugural event with teams from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan and Qatar racing against world-class cyclists from Australia, Belgium, France, the United States and other countries.

cycling, China, Tour+de+France, Tour