Last UCI 2.1 race of 2018 ready to roll in China’s Fujian province.

13th November, 2018 – Yongtai, China: The 22 teams set to compete in the seventh Tour of Fuzhou have been presented in style at the Smiler Hotspring Hotel in Yongtai on the eve of the 5-day race running from 14 to 18 November.

Last year’s winner, the Australian Jai Hindley, moved on to the WorldTour and achieved a top-10 mountain top finish at the Vuelta a España with Team Sunweb, highlighting that the Tour of Fuzhou is a true climber’s affair. And although the iconic hill to Yunding doesn’t feature in this edition due to roadworks, Stage 1 to Ku Liang is set to make a difference ahead of the much anticipated Stage 4 to Da Nang Town.

A Chinese trio awaits the climbs: Lyu Xianjing, a 20-year-old mountain biker from Yunnan province, who was sensational at the recent Tour of Hainan, finishing fifth overall, and winning both the King of the Mountains and best Asian rider competitions. Born in Kazakhstan 24 years ago, Nazaerbieke Bieken is also a former mountain biker and a very promising rider for Mitchelton-BikeExchange, the team with which Hindley won in 2017. Last year’s runner-up, Fung Ka Hoo from Hong Kong, returns after having finished second at the UCI 2.2 Tour of Quanzhou Bay last week. He missed three months of the current season after he sustained a nasty crash at the Tour of Japan.

Ilya Davidenok and Mykhaylo Kononenko of Beijing XDS-Innova, Ben Dyball of St George, Freddy Ovett from Australian Cycling Academy, Minsk’s Stanislau Bazhkou and Roy Eefting of Memil-CCN are the other favourites, while sprinters Kaden Groves (Mitchelton-BikeExchange) who demonstrated his international form by winning Stage 3 of the Tour of Fuzhou last year, Dylan Kennett (St George), Toby Orchard (ACA), Shiki Kuroeda (Aisan), Kim Okcheol (Seoul) and Andrii Kulyk (Beijing XDS-Innova) will show their best on the flat stages.
The stages:

November 14, Stage 1: Ma Wei to Ku Liang, 107.4km (uphill finish)
November 15, Stage 2: Binjiang Binhai Rd to Qinjiang Manchu village, 115.7km (flat)
November 16, Stage 3: Liang Jiang county sports park, 97.1km (undulating)
November 17, Stage 4: Yong Tai to Da Nang Town, 126.8km (mountain finish)
November 18, Stage 5: Yong Tai circuit race, 129.6km (flat)
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