Tour de France to spark “cyclemania” in Yunnan

The signing ceremony of the Tour de France (Yunnan stop) took place in Kunming, Yunnan province, on May 28. 

It’s confirmed that this world-renowned bicycle race is going to make its debut in Yunnan near the Fuxian Lake of Yuxi city in October, 2019.

This will also be the first time that the Tour de France sets its foot on southwestern China.

The Tour de France disembarked in China three years ago. 

Since 2017, it has been successfully held in Beijing, Changsha of Hunan province, and Zhuji of Zhejiang province respectively, with an annual participation of more than 10,000 cycling sprinters, including around 2,000 international ones.

The points garnered at Chinese stops have been counted into the Tour de France scoring system. And leaders of each stop are surely qualified to join the Tour de France.

Racers of top 20% will also have chance to cycle in the French race.

This event was jointly launched by Activation Sports and Zhijing Sports, with an aim to provide a unique cycling experience on the Yunnan-Guizhou plateau. 

“We place the Tour de France alongside the Fuxianhu Lake primarily because of its picturesque scenery,” said Zhou Qi, the general manager of Activation Sports. 

A “cyclemania” has been witnessed in Yunnan recently. A variety of races held in Yunnan is the best evidence, including the International Granfondo Cycling Festival, Tour Dianchi Lake and the cycling summit of Zixi Mountain.

“I believe that the Tour de France will bring this mania to a new height,” Zhou added.

A special exhibition commemorating the 100-year-old yellow jersey of the Tour de France is being concurrently held at Park 1903 in Kunming.

This may make cycling even more popular in Yunnan.

Reporting by Lou Ying (Yunnan Net); trans-editing by Wang Jingzhong