Tour of Guangxi 2026 Tuesday 14th - Sunday 18th Ocotber
Stage 1 - Tuesday 13th October
Chongzuo circuit (149.4km)
Stage 1 of the 2026 Tour of Guangxi was a straightforward sprint day on these massive Chinese roads.
This race is similar enough to the Tour de Langkawi in so far as the roads are huge. They’re massive, wide, and very straightforward, so in terms of the parcours and profile there’s nothing majorly worrying.
The only thing we were a little bit worried about was maybe a very small climb with about 30 - 40 kms to go.
If the GC teams who don’t have sprinters here wanted to light it up, they could do something, but they would have had to ride pretty hard to make it to the final run in against the sprint teams.
We weren’t overly invested in controlling the whole day, but at the same time we were really switched on. From there it was a case of being in the bubble, being protected, and not too far forward because the roads are so big it’s so easy to move up.
One good acceleration can get you to the front really quickly if you’re smart about it. We did that really well when you look at how deep into the final run in we had so many guys still together.
Unfortunately, Frits got stuck in the box and couldn’t get out. He was upset about it. But he took it on board after and wanted to get it right in the stages to come.
But again, bike racing for ye. Another shot at it tomorrow...
Stage 2 - Wednesday 14th October
Chongzuo to Jingxi 179.5kms
Brilliant day today. Absolutely delighted. We really needed that as a team.
To be honest, I think I really needed it too. Just to be part of a winning team again. It’s an experience I haven’t had in a really long time. Yeah, I really, really enjoyed that now today.
We debriefed on yesterday and wanted to get it right today. As I mentioned, Frits was disappointed yesterday, but rectified it today.
Today’s profile suited us a little bit more with the longer climb about 30 - 40 kms from the finish with a six-kilometre section at around four percent.
UAE Team Emirates - XRG attacked it with Movistar Team from early on because they are two teams that don’t have a real sprinter here. I’d said to the lads that I really felt they would attack it and I thought it might split the race a bit.
Even if it did, all seven of us were there. Every single one of us. We all really cruised over the climb when a lot of guys were suffering, a lot of big names got dropped or were just swinging.
When we got to the final run in, the whole team did a super job dropping Frits off on the wheel of (Paul) MAGNIER and after that he did the talking himself with the legs and came off the wheel of (Paul) MAGNIER and neither he nor (Olav) KOOIJ was able to come around.
It suited us because Frits isn’t a pure, pure sprinter by nature. His engine is just huge, so he gets to the line fresher than most people and that allows him to still be able to open up his sprint.
So making those bigger riders suffer on the climb suited him perfectly.
It’s a great boost of confidence going into the next few days because that means we’ve got three more opportunities with Frits and then Robbe on the final day for the GC. Yeah, it’s cool to be part of this.
I think we’ve earned a bit more respect in the peloton and people might look to us to ride when the going gets tough for example for the next few days.
We’ll probably just stick with our plan though. There’s still plenty of big teams here that want to get a win out of this, like Decathlon CMA CGM Team, so it’s up to them to do the riding.
After that, we'll stick to what we know best, get Frits in position again and go for another win before 2026 is out.