2026 Tour of Guangxi preview: The final WorldTour showdown of the season

The Tour of Guangxi has brought down the curtain on the men’s and women’s WorldTour seasons in recent years, marking the second WorldTour-level event on the calendar in Asia following the UAE Tour in February. 

However, the dynamics of the Chinese stage race look different in 2026, with the women’s event already cancelled, while the men’s event’s future is reportedly in doubt beyond the current campaign. 

Despite that uncertainty, the 2026 edition of the Tour of Guangxi, which will take place over six stages from 13-18 October, is still set to boast a start list that features multiple stars. 

The 2026 Tour of Guangxi kicks off with the flattest stage of the 2026 edition, which centres around Chongzuo, replacing the Fangchenggang circuit used in 2024 and 2025.

At 149.4km in length and with 975m of elevation gain, the sprinters will have bookmarked this as an opportunity to win, but with plenty of rolling terrain throughout, the sprint teams will plenty of work to do to keep things under control.

Stage 2 sees the difficulty ramp up with a 179.7km test from Chongzuo to Jingxi that features 1,818m of elevation gain.

The majority of the stage has been categorised as relatively flat, before a long second-category climb in the final 40km which could put the sprinters in difficulty if raced aggressively. 

From the summit with around 30km remaining, the rest of the stage will suit the sprinters, but it will be a case of who has remained in the peloton after the long climb to control things and who is left trying to chase back on. 

Stage 3 is the longest of the 2026 edition, covering 212.3km from Jingxi to Bama and featuring 2,087m of elevation gain. 

This marks the first of three consecutive stages with over 2,000m of elevation gain, and the climbing is spread out across the stage. 

Inside the final 70km there is a category 2 and a category 3 climb to contend with. The summit of the latter comes with just under 30km from the finish, meaning there could be a similar dynamic to stage 2. 

The fourth stage covers the most climbing in the 2026 edition, packing 2,679m of elevation gain into 165.7km from Bama to Tian'e. 

There are 2 category two climbs and 2 category three climbs with all of them coming in the middle portion of the stage. 

The summit of the last climb comes with over 52km from the finish and there is plenty of downhill terrain on the run-in to Tian'e, making this another difficult stage to call.

The penultimate stage of the 2026 Tour of Guangxi covers 170.1km from Jinchegnjiang to Yizhou and features plenty more climbing with 2,237m of elevation gain. 

On paper, it looks like another difficult stage for the sprint teams to control, with a category two climb and 2 category three ascents sandwiched in the middle of the route.

However, with the majority of the final 50km taking place on flat terrain, there is still the possibility of keeping things together for a reduced group sprint, and there will be added motivation considering the difficulty of the final stage.

There's no doubting the significance of the sixth and final stage in terms of the Tour of Guangxi GC contest. 

Starting in Yizhou, the riders will travel 165.8km to NongLa, covering 1,717m of elevation. 

The majority of the climbing is courtesy of the summit finish to NongLa, which is categorised at 3.1km with an average gradient of 6.3%. 

Paul Double stormed to victory on these slopes last year, using sections that ramped up to 10% to his advantage, and whoever wants to win the overall will need to have diamond legs on this stage.

Based on the early provisional start list, Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) is set for his first rendezvous at the Tour of Guangxi, and the Briton arrives in China off the back of a strong block of racing in Autumn. 

Following his seventh-place finish in the road race at the Worlds, Pidcock finished runner-up at the Giro dell’Emilia and Tre Valli Varesine before taking sixth at Il Lombardia.

Although he is a debutant at this race, Pidcock has shone, having won his first XCO mountain bike Olympic title in Tokyo in 2021, before winning two stages and the GC at the AlUla Tour in his debut race for Pinarello Q36.5 at the start of 2025.

Based on his pedigree and current form, Pidcock will be expected by his rivals to be a key protagonist during the crucial GC stages as he hunts for his first WorldTour stage race overall victory.

Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek) is another star on the provisional start list, though the Spaniard has had a low-key Autumn so far in comparison to Pidcock. 

A former winner of Itzulia Basque Country and Tirreno-Adriatico, Ayuso has also shown his class in one-week stage races this season, winning the Volta ao Algarve in February ahead of Paul Seixas and João Almeida, before finishing sixth at the Tour de France, showing he can’t be slept on. 

Paul Double (Jayco AlUla) returns after winning the queen stage and the GC twelve months ago and with 18 full stages of the Vuelta in his legs. 

The Briton produced a stunning performance on the summit finish to Nongla Scenic spot to take his first WorldTour win on the fifth stage, before adding the overall victory the following day. 

This season, Double’s best GC results include fifth at the Tour of Oman in February and at the Tour of Austria in July. 

Two Frenchmen who could also pose a threat to Double’s crown include Louis Barré (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Lèo Bisiaux (Decathlon CMA CGM). 

Barré has enjoyed a standout debut season with Visma, winning stages at the Tour de Pologne and Lidl Deutschland Tour, finishing fourth and second overall, respectively.

Bisiaux meanwhile arrives in good form following a twelfth-place finish at the Vuelta before taking ninth in the road race at the European Championships, and the 21-year-old may have more of a leadership opportunity than previously.

Jarno Widar (Lotto-Intermarché) will likely be buoyed by his recent spell of racing in Italy, which included his first professional victory at Tre Valli Varesine, outsprinting Pidcock from a three-up finish. 

He backed this up with 13th on his Monument debut at Il Lombardia and with a Vuelta also now in the legs, the 20-year-old Belgian could be in the mix to tick off his next milestone at a WorldTour stage race. 

Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain-Victorious) showed what he is capable this season in Grand Tours by enjoying a lengthy spell in the maglia rosa at the Giro d’Italia before taking sixth overall and winning the youth classification. 

Other than the AlUla Tour at the start of the season where he finished fifth, he hasn’t featured in the GC contests in week-long stage races, but top 10 finishes at the GP Montréal and Gran Piemonte in recent weeks indicate he has the punch required to be in the mix on the Guangxi climbs. 

Marco Brenner (Tudor) won the GC at the Tour de Pologne in August, before carrying his momentum to the Vuelta a España, where he claimed his first Grand Tour stage win atop Sierra de la Pandera, one of the toughest climbs in the race. 

Alessandro Pinarello (NSN) has impressed previously this season in week-long stage races, finishing third overall at O Gran Camiño in March and the Arctic Race of Norway in August, as well as finishing tenth at Tirreno-Adritico in March too. 

Kévin Vauquelin (Netcompany-Ineos) has won multiple stage races in his career, including the Giro d’Abruzzo this season, but the Frenchman would be looking to capitalise on his talent by winning a WorldTour stage race for the first time. Meanwhile, Andrew August (Netcompany-Ineos), who is set to join Pidcock and co at Pinarello next season, won his last stage race, the Czech Tour back in August. 

Jhonatan Nárvaez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) finished third overall last year while Mikkel Honoré (EF Education-EasyPost) took fourth, and both could be in the GC mix once more, as well as the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe duo Daniel Felipe Martínez and Maxim Van Gils, and also Javier Romo (Movistar) and Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal Quick-Step).

Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) won all five sprint stages last year to cap off a remarkable end-of-season spell, which saw him win 14 times in 18 race days.

The Frenchman has reached new heights this campaign, scoring another twelve victories, including three Giro d'Italia stage wins. 

Just like last year, Magnier will arrive in good form, having won his last race, Binche-Chimay-Chimay at the start of October. He needs one stage win to draw level with Fernando Gaviria as the record-holder on six.

One of Magnier's primary challengers is likely to be Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM), who is also devastatingly fast when at full flow. 

The Dutchman had to wait until the end of May to make his debut for Decathlon CMA CGM due to a long-term illness, but he has certainly made up for the time missed by picking up seven victories, including a stage at the Tour de France. 

Like Magnier, Kooij is in good form, having won the GP d'Isbergues at the end of September before adding another victory at the Sparkassen Münsterland Giro at the start of this month. 

Kooij won two stages in Guangxi in his only previous appearance at the race back in 2023 and is set for some blockbuster duels with Magnier. 

Max Kanter (XDS Astana) will be among those looking to disrupt the two standout favourites in a race he knows well, having featured in the previous three editions.

The German has consistently knocked on the door in Guangxi with 13 top-ten stage finishes across four appearances, though he is arguably enjoying the best season of his career right now. 

After winning a stage of Paris-Nice in March, Kanter was ever present in the sprint finishes and intermediate sprints at the Tour and has also won his most recent race, taking the Gooikse Pijl at the end of September. 

Fabio Jakobsen (Visma | Lease a Bike), a former two-time stage winner back in 2018, is also set for his first WorldTour race since making his mid-season transfer from Picnic PostNL.