Stage 5 in Jinghong, Xishuangbanna, took place on wet roads initially, but the sun immediately came out to join the riders on their final 162km long challenge of this year's event. A serious ride with over 2500 hm on sometimes treacherous roads , partially damaged by heavier-than-usual mudslides over the past months. Lucky, as the ride progressed the sun appeared more and more, creating a wonderful setting for the finish.
Read MoreStage 4 of this year's event in Pu'Er carried the title "The Coffee & Tea Ride", but who could have thought that that was exactly what it would turn out to be. Heavy rain had been striking the Pu'Er area for days, causing mudslides here and there and generally creating unsafe road conditions for a cycling competition. However, our event's race director decided not to cancel the event, but to just neutralise the race under the principle of 'let them ride'. The more than 1300 participants were permitted to ride the full 106km course at their own pace, as long as within the cut-off times. No race, no results, no podium ceremonies. The decision was praised by the participants with applause upon announcement and 95% of the registered riders would later complete the Pu'Er stage successfully.
Read MoreThe Queen’s Stage of this year’s Granfondo Yunnan took place in Lincang/Fenqing, a small town nestled between high mountain peaks going up to 2500m above sea level. The stage course measured 156km with 3300 elevation gain. The weather forecast the night before showed a few chances of local rain showers, and that is what happened around noon - but never to the extent that the stage was in jeopardy. Race victory again went to yellow jersey holders Chen Hao and Li Si, confirming their lead in the general classification as well. The men’s mountain race was entirely coloured by Wang Jin, however.
Read MoreThe second stage of this year's Granfondo Yunnan had the same winners in Chen Hao and Li Si, both wearing the event's yellow leader jerseys. The Tengchong stage was 113km long and largely based on last year’s new course introduced during the separate GF Tengchong event. The race took riders to Simola, a famous tourist site but also a very technical part of this stage with lots of stones - even when these were in good shape. After Simola, riders headed back to the city, but just before entering it turned right towards Dong Shan, a novelty in our granfondo history. Dong Shan is the name of a beautiful mountain, ideal for cycling.
Read MoreThe opening stage of the 2024 Granfondo Yunnan saw a 9-men sprint after 113 km of riding around Mangshi City and then across Jiangdong mountain. Chen Hao timed his acceleration perfectly and won ahead of Yang Qian Bin and Wang Jin who joined him on the podium. First non-Chinese rider was USA’s Joel Bruner, 2’24” behind in tenth. Last year’s overall female winner Li Si again started with a victory. She finished more than six minutes ahead of Cheng Qiao Rou in the women’s race.
Over 1300 participants took the start in Mangshi, of whom 80% on the long distance course. Record participation numbers.
Read MoreThe 11th edition of Colourful Yunnan Granfondo Cycling Festival begins this Saturday with the first of five new stages in five different cities. Participants in the long distance category will ride 650 kilometres in total over challenging and mountainous terrain in southern and southwestern Yunnan. Despite a late opening of registration, the event was again sold out in less than 24 hours with approx 1300 people signing up for the full tour, and several hundreds more for one or more stages.
Read MoreThe 11th edition of our event features three new cities and five completely new stages. The annual wet season has again wrecked several sections of the race courses, but road repairs are ongoing and re-routes have been designed where necessary. Below are the five race courses for long distance and short distances categories in Dehong-Mangshi, Baoshan-Tengchong, Lincang-Fengqing, Pu’er-Simao and Xishuangbanna-Jinghong.
Read MoreThe 11th edition of Colourful Yunnan Granfondo Cycling Festival is now open for registration. As previously announced, the event is scheduled from 2 to 9 November with departure in Dehong-Mangshi and finish in Xishuangbanna-Jinghong after five challenging stages. People can sign up for all five stages and be part of the general classification and the full tour, or can just sign up for one or more individual stages. As always, every stage has a long distance and short distance category on offer.
Read MoreAfter several months of necessary patience due to a series of, in part, new official procedures to be fulfilled, we are finally about to launch the registration for this year’s 11th Colourful Granfondo Yunnan Cycling Festival. Please stay tuned within the next couple of days to discover all details of the event, which has a complete new programme and will also visit three brand new cities. People within mainland China are recommended to follow the WeChat app as usual, all key details will also be posted on this international website.
The event starts in Dehong-Mangshi, on Saturday, 2 November and finishes in Xishuangbanna one week later on Saturday, 9 November. There are five major stages for a total of more than 600 km and lots of elevation. Please note the final podium ceremony and after party will be on Ssturday evening in Xishuangbanna, so you better plan to stay there. Contrary to Lijiang before, the last stage is nearly 160 km anyway, so most riders will be busy on the road until late afternoon.
Read MoreThe 2024 edition of the Colourful Yunnan Granfondo Cycling Festival is scheduled from 2 to 9 November. The event will feature a Prologue Time Trial, followed by five brand new regular stages. More details on the race courses, the event logistics and the opening of registration will follow in due course when all official procedures with and by the provincial and local authorities have been concluded.
Read More
