Cycling plus tour set to attract more Chinese fans

Egan Bernal of Columbia, representing Team INEOS, became the youngest Tour de France champion of the post-War era and the first winner from South America with 82 hours and 57 minutes, as the 106th Tour concluded on Sunday.

The 23-day race started in Brussels and wrapped up on the Champs-Elysees in Paris, passing through major champagne zones and the natural wonders of the Pyrenees and the Alps.

With China emerging as a new cycling market, Amaury Sport Organization (A.S.O), a France-based sporting events organizing group, Activation Group, an integrated marketing agency that introduced the Tour de France to China, and QYER.com, a Chinese online travel platform, worked together with star sports presenter Liu Yuxi, to introduce fans to the attraction of sports tourism.

Liu, who traveled along the race route, said she was amazed by the performance of the cyclists and hospitality of fans along the way. "I hope Chinese fans can also experience the craze of this sport," she said.

The Tour de France, arguably one of the world's top three annual sporting events, attracts over 3.5 billion views on digital platforms or TVs worldwide annually and 15 million spectators.

A L'Etape race for amateur cyclists was staged on July 21, which attracted more than 16,000 participants worldwide. Zou Bo, winner of the 2018 Beijing L'Etape, joined the race.

Charted from one stage of the professional route, the L'Etape route was an authentic experience for amateur cyclists. The race, as long as 135 kilometers, started in Albertville, France and ended in the French Alps at Val Thorens, the highest ski resort in Europe, at an altitude of 2,300 meters.

The Tour de France kicked off its 2019 China tour in Zhuji city of East China's Zhejiang province in May. The second leg will be in Chengjiang county of Southwest China’s Yunnan province in August and the winner of this race will be invited to France next year.