On the afternoon of September 24, the 2017 Tour of China International Road Cycling Championship, the largest international road cycling race in Asia, came to an end at the Hengqin International Tennis Center in Zhuhai after 15 days of competition. In the final stage, the Zhuhai Hengqin Circuit Race, Meris from Latvia's Ritu Bank Intercontinental Team dominated the group in the collective sprint, and Kevin Rivera of Italy's Androni Team was crowned the overall winner of the second stage. The Zhuhai stage was selected as the most beautiful stage.

2017 Tour of China (Zhuhai Station) summary video

Entering its eighth year, the Tour of China officially kicked off on September 10 this year, starting from Chengde and running through Hebei, Shanxi, Sichuan, Guizhou, Hunan, Hubei and Guangdong provinces, with a total of 10 stages, with Zhuhai as the final battle of the event. The event attracted more than 700 professional riders from more than 40 countries around the world.

Hengqin International Tennis Center witnessed the wonderful conclusion of the "2017 Tour of China".

This is the third year in a row that the Tour of China has been held in Zhuhai for the final race. Located in the Hengqin Free Trade Zone, the Zhuhai stage is a circuit race, with a total course of 91.2 kilometers and a single lap of 11.4 kilometers (a total of 8 laps), passing through a number of Hengqin landmarks along the way, including Hengqin International Tennis Center, Sandi Spring, Lixin Cultural and Creative World, Rosewood Cultural Center and other scenic spots and art centers. Among them, the Hengqin International Tennis Center, which is the starting and ending point of the stage, is also the venue for the world's top tennis event "Zhuhai WTA Super Classic", so Zhuhai Huafa Group, as the organizer of the WTA Classic, also provides full support for the tournament as the co-organizer of the Zhuhai stage of the Tour of China.

At 12 noon on September 24th, the competition in Zhuhai started on time, Guo Hongfeng, director of the Cycling Fencing Sports Management Center of the General Administration of Sports of the People's Republic of China, Wang Jianguo, Secretary General of the China Cycling Association, Niu Jing, Secretary of the Party Committee of Hengqin New Area, Yang Chuan, Director of the Management Committee of Hengqin New Area, Wu Xiangming, Deputy Director of Zhuhai Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau, and Xu Rong, President of Zhuhai Huafa Modern Service Investment Holding Co., Ltd., and other relevant leaders gave orders for the last stage.

A total of 132 players from 22 top teams from about 30 countries came out of the Hengqin International Tennis Center, and in the end, Meris from the Latvian Ritu Bank Intercontinental Team took the lead in the sprint, with a time of 1 hour, 53 minutes and 23 seconds, and he also successfully won the "sprint king" blue jersey of this year's Tour of China International Road Cycling Race with his outstanding performance in Zhuhai. Kevin Rivera of Italy's Androni Racing Team was crowned the overall champion of the second stage of the race and the king of climbing, and Chen Mingrun of the Chinese Hengxiang Intercontinental Team won the best Asian and "best driver of Greater China" white jersey. In terms of team results, Italy's Androni team won the first place in the overall team results, and China's Hengxiang Continental Team ranked second in the team rankings.

Cycling is becoming popular, and the livable city shows a new style

Cycling has always carried the mission of promoting green and low-carbon travel, and Zhuhai is well-known for its green and sustainable development. In 2015, Zhuhai was an instant hit when it first became associated with the Tour of China, which was not only unanimously recognized for its organizational level and innovation ability, but also praised Zhuhai as a livable and dynamic city in the world. In 2016, the Tour of China came to Zhuhai again, and the Hengqin stage was selected as the most influential stage of the year; This year, it won the most beautiful stage again.

It is understood that at present, Zhuhai has built an urban greenway network covering the whole city, with a total length of nearly 1,000 kilometers, covering various types such as coastal urban greenways, pastoral and suburban greenways, historical and cultural greenways, island leisure greenways, industrial ecological greenways and sports competition greenways. These greenways not only connect the main natural and cultural landscapes of Zhuhai City, become a beautiful business card showing Zhuhai's urban style, but also provide rich choices for the leisure and cultural life of local citizens, and drive the popularity of cycling in Zhuhai. Today, based on the influence of the Tour of China held here for three consecutive years, Zhuhai has given birth to many cycling clubs and sports clubs, and it can be said that low-carbon green cycling has gradually become a new trend of folk sports in Zhuhai.

Huafa Sports presents a new cultural exchange to ignite the vitality of the city

Zhuhai is located in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area, facing Hong Kong across the sea in the east and Macao in the south, known as the "City of Romance", "City of 100 Islands" and "City of Happiness", and has won the first place in the "China's Most Livable City" selected by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences for many years. At the same time, Zhuhai is also one of the first four special economic zones in China to open up to the outside world, and with the inclusion of the Hengqin New Area as part of the Guangdong Free Trade Zone, Zhuhai has become a strategic location to respond to China's "One Belt, One Road" initiative and restart the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.

In this context, the Zhuhai Municipal Government has vigorously promoted the development of the cultural, sports and tourism industry, and used this as a driving force to promote the competitiveness and international reputation of Zhuhai. At the same time, the local leading enterprises represented by Huafa Group are also duty-bound to join in and actively undertake various international cultural and sports exchange activities to inject new connotations into Zhuhai's spiritual and cultural construction.

During the Zhuhai stage of this year's Tour of China, in order to give more citizens the opportunity to experience the passion brought by international cycling, and in response to the new theme of the event "Tour of China Culture", Huafa Group specially organized a mass cycling activity with the theme of "Beautiful Hengqin · a Better Life" and an amateur bicycle race in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area on the day of the race, aiming to rely on the international sports platform of the Tour of China to provide more opportunities for sports and cultural exchanges for the public, and to create another brand event and city festival for Zhuhai. On the same day, about 450 amateur bicycle enthusiasts and citizens from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao participated in this theme activity, and personally conveyed the concept of low-carbon, environmentally friendly and green travel.

In the next three months, Huafa Group will also host large-scale cultural and sports events such as the 2017 Zhuhai WTA Super Classic, the 2017 WDC Standard Dance/Latin Dance Competition and the 2018 Australian Open Asia-Pacific Wild Card Competition, relying on the vitality of sports events to further promote the construction of Zhuhai as a world tourism city.