China’s professional cycling races cross a country of extraordinary geographical scale, where towering mountain ranges, subtropical forests, vast river systems and rapidly expanding cities create dramatically different racing environments. From the limestone karst landscapes of Guangxi to the high-altitude roads of western China, the country’s growing international cycling calendar offers routes shaped by challenging terrain, regional diversity and the contrast between ancient settlements and modern urban development.
Around the Peloton explores cycling races in China through the history, geography and cultural identities of the regions they cross. Follow the riders through traditional villages, historic trading routes, agricultural valleys and landscapes shaped by centuries of human settlement, discovering the heritage of China’s many ethnic communities and the relationship between its natural environment and civilisation. Each race offers a different perspective on a vast country whose stories extend far beyond the roads of professional cycling.
The Tour of Guangxi reaches its final day in Yizhou, where the previous stage ended among the river valleys and cultural traditions associated with Liu Sanjie. Over the following 170 kilometres, the race turns south through the interior of Guangxi…
For four days the Tour of Guangxi has travelled progressively deeper into western Guangxi, following waterways through karst basins, crossing the Youjiang valley, tracing underground rivers around Fengshan and finally reaching the immense engineered waters of the Hongshui around Tian’e.…
Stage 3 reached Bama after crossing one of the great geographical transitions of western Guangxi, descending from the high basin of Jingxi to the Youjiang before climbing back into the mountains. Stage 4 begins among those mountains and never truly…
Stage 2 spent its final kilometres climbing into Jingxi, reaching a high karst basin close to the Vietnamese frontier after an afternoon in which the landscape seemed steadily to rise around the race. Stage 3 begins at 748 metres above…
Stage 1 returned to Chongzuo after making a broad circle through the low karst country of the Zuo River. Stage 2 leaves that circle behind and points west, towards a landscape increasingly shaped by altitude, limestone and the proximity of…
The Tour of Guangxi begins in a corner of China where the landscape already seems to belong partly to another world. Chongzuo lies in the far southwest of the country, close enough to Vietnam for the frontier to have shaped…
