Tour of Guangxi to join One Cycling series
Chinese race to move to February, but possible new African race looks to have been shelved
The brand new race series that aims to revolutionise the sport, One Cycling, is set to bring on the Tour of Guangxi to join its inaugural season in 2026, Global Peloton understands.
The new series, set to be named the One Cycling Global Race Series, will include up to sixteen races in four continents, with a season-ending finale in Saudi Arabia, as reported by Chris Marshall-Bell for Escape Collective.
The Tour of Guangxi will move from its usual October slot to a new date in February, in order to give space for the Global Race Series to conclude in Saudi Arabia and create a short block of races in Asia before the series heads to Europe in the spring. Escape reports that the UAE Tour will also be part of this block.
A source close to the race told Global Peloton that One Cycling are currently in direct advanced negotiations with Wanda, the company that runs the Tour of Guangxi. Escape reports that the Chinese race is confirmed to be part of the series.
Wanda launched the Tour of Guangxi back in 2017 and five editions have taken place since - it was not held from 2020 to 2022 due to the COVID pandemic. A women’s one-day race of the same name was also launched in 2017, joining the Women’s WorldTour the year later. Details are less clear on plans for the women’s peloton’s involvement in One Cycling, but this appears to open the door for the women’s race to be included.
Around €300m of investment is thought to be on its way from the Saudi Public Investment Fund, which has built a considerable sporting portfolio over the past few years. The cash injection will aid One Cycling’s aims to see the best riders in the world compete against one another on a regular basis.
One Cycling also hopes to make the cycling season more formulaic and engaging for a wider audience, while creating a new financial model for the sport which will share out revenue from broadcast rights between teams.
As reported by Escape, the season-ending race in Saudi Arabia will not be the AlUla Tour if One Cycling cannot convince ASO, who organise that race, to join their series - something which appears less and less likely. If no agreement is made with the Tour de France organisers, a new race in Saudi Arabia will be created to conclude the season.
Other races are said to be included in Australia, North America as well as up to ten in Europe.
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African race unlikely in 2026
Previous reporting by Escape had also suggested that a new race in Africa would join the One Cycling series, with a One Cycling document also seen by Global Peloton confirming those plans.
Last week, Het Laatste Nieuws, released new information on One Cycling, but there was no mention of an African race being included.
The logical locations for an African race as part of One Cycling would be Rwanda or South Africa. Sources within Rwandan and South African cycling have told Global Peloton that they are unaware of any plans to join One Cycling. “This programme doesn’t exist,” one Rwandan insider said.
It appears that plans for an African race to join the series may have been shelved for now, although this is unconfirmed.
One Cycling have a vision to create a race series with a global reach. More work is needed in future seasons to create new races or adopt existing ones in Africa and the Americas to achieve that vision.