{"id":197712,"date":"2025-10-13T19:10:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T19:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/197712\/"},"modified":"2025-10-13T19:10:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T19:10:09","slug":"skjelmose-narvaez-and-magnier-headline-tour-of-guangxi-as-2025-worldtour-calendar-and-relegation-battle-draw-to-a-close","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/197712\/","title":{"rendered":"Skjelmose, Narv\u00e1ez and Magnier headline Tour of Guangxi as 2025 WorldTour calendar and relegation battle draw to a close"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), Jhonatan Narv\u00e1ez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), and Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep) are among the big names set to headline this week’s Tour of Guangxi<\/a> in southwest China, as action in the 2025 WorldTour calendar draws to a close.<\/p>\n

Just 48 hours after he raced and DNFed at Il Lombardia, Danish rider Skjelmose<\/a> will start among the general classification favourites, but not without challenge, as Narv\u00e1ez looks to bookend a stunning first season on UAE Team Emirates-XRG with a victory in China to add to his GC title from the Tour Down Under<\/a> \u2013 the first WorldTour event of the season in January.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Alongside them, looking to win the red jersey will be Cian Uijtdebroeks in his final race for Visma-Lease a Bike<\/a> before he joins Movistar, and the likes of Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) and Narv\u00e1ez’s punchy teammate, Jan Christen, who could similarly impress on the decisive fifth stage to Nong La.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

UAE Team Emirates XRG, currently on 94 professional wins and already holding the record for the most wins by a team in a season<\/a>, will be seeking a fabled 100th victory, to which a top-form Narv\u00e1ez could significantly contribute. However, without a recognised sprinter, it does look unlikely.<\/p>\n

As is often the case in China, with several flat finishes on offer across the six stages, a strong sprint field has assembled in Fangchenggang for Tuesday’s opener, led by Magnier, who has won 14 times so far in 2025.<\/p>\n

Those set to battle it out with the Frenchman should include Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Pavel Bittner (Picnic PostNL), Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious), and Max Kanter (XDS Astana), with a final few opportunities at WorldTour glory up for grabs.<\/p>\n

One key storyline for the week was set to be the UCI testing a maximum gearing setup<\/a> on bikes in pursuit of greater rider safety, though that test was cancelled after action led by the Belgian Competition Authority<\/a> (BCA), following an appeal by component brand SRAM.<\/p>\n

The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n

The battle for points<\/p>\n

\n

\"FOURMIES,\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Perhaps more importantly, the Tour of Guangxi will be the continuation of a hard-fought, three-year battle for UCI points<\/a>, with Cofidis desperately trying to gain the more than 300 points required to overhaul Uno-X Mobility and ensure they aren’t relegated to cycling’s second division come 2026.<\/p>\n

It will take quite a performance by GC hopeful Emanuel Buchmann, who is in the latter years of his career, and sprinter Stanis\u0142aw Anio\u0142kowski. But as their Norwegian rivals aren’t in China and only have a couple of races left in Veneto, Italy, at which to gain points, Cofidis aren’t without hope, although it is slim.<\/p>\n

Even still, this battle relies on the much-discussed Lotto and Intermarch\u00e9-Wanty merger actually materialising, which would free up an 18th WorldTour spot for either Uno-X Mobility or Cofidis to move into, so Guangxi won’t be the absolute end to that promotion\/relegation cycle, but teams will fight to the very end – the season closing October 19 Veneto Classic will be their last showdown.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

Contract hunting and retirements<\/p>\n

While several high-profile riders’ careers came to a close in Europe over the past weekend at Il Lombardia and Paris-Tours, Guangxi will also serve as an endpoint for some of those who are gracefully bowing out of their time in the sport, but it also provides a final chance to impress for those seeking a contract for the coming years.<\/p>\n

This could very much become the case for riders currently on Lotto or Intermarch\u00e9-Wanty, who are either aware or uncertain of whether they have a place in the planned merger, and could be forced back into survival mode.<\/p>\n

For the likes of Ryan Gibbons<\/a> (Lidl-Trek) and Dan McLay<\/a> (Visma-Lease a Bike), this will be the last dance in the WorldTour after long careers, and although they are several thousand miles from home and the usual European settings, it still offers up a worthy send-off.<\/p>\n

Many riders may start in China without deals or extensions for the coming season and could be desperately looking for a result, which should become apparent as the six stages rage on in China’s southwest corner. The men’s peloton is a long way from January and those opening WorldTour tests in Australia, but it finally comes to an end in China, with plenty still to come out in the wash.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), Jhonatan Narv\u00e1ez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), and Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep) are among the big names set…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197713,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-197712","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}