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On the 1st December, Signing Ceremony of Gree · Tour of Guangxi was hosted in Beijing. At this ceremony, Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), Gree Electric Appliances, the Guangxi Provincial Government and the Wanda Group reached a consensus to include the Tour of Guangxi as a new stage on the UCI World Tour. 

Within this cooperation, Gree Appliances won the naming rights and UCI authorized the Guangxi government and the Wanda Group to set up two annual cycling events, the Gree Tour of Guangxi and the Gree Guangxi Women’s Tour, which will come into existence from October 2017.

Involving the cities of Beihai, Qinzhou, Nanning, Liuzhou and Guilin, there will be 6 stages in the first tour of Guangxi covering a total distance of 1000km. Also, during this 6-day event, the riders will experience different types of terrain; traversing plains, hills and mountains as they travel across the province of Guangxi from south to north.

In the meantime, the 2017 UCI Cycling Gala will be hosted in the city of Guilin. UCI President, Brian Cookson, believes the cooperation with the Wanda Group will help them to successfully develop cycling sports in China. This should be a big step for UCI to reach their primary target, to deliver and promote cycling sports on a global scale. In addition, UCI did not involve ASO in this cooperation, which may infer UCI’s determination to explore the Chinese market independently.

For the Wanda Group, this cooperation also is a new stage in the development of its sporting business. Choosing Guangxi to invest in big sport events has echoed the idea of the president of the Wanda Group, Wang Jianlin, that the sports industry should help promote the relevant travel industries. One contract between Wanda Group and the Guangxi government was signed on 16th April 2016. It determined the partnership between both sides including a huge investment from the Wanda Group.14 billion USD (100 billion CNY) will go to building up 11 huge cultural travel projects in Guangxi, which the Tour of Guangxi is strongly linked to.

Proofread by Sean O Diobhilin