The 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.

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After 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.

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The 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.

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Li Pengcheng rode his lungs out on the monster climb of 36 km in length to Maoniuping (Yak Plateau at 3200m altitude) to win the 10th anniversary edition of Granfondo Yunnan in Lijiang yesterday. It was a fantastic battle between the top 7 riders in the general classification who each threw their cards on the table in a real cycling thriller. Despite several attempts to break away, a big group crossed the top of the first climb of the day at km 35. In the following long descent (1km vertical), South Africans Luke Chambers and Channing Forrester took a small advantage over the group with the other favourites. Chambers looked vulnerable uphill quite quickly, and so did yellow jersey Wu Bao Chao. Gong Bai Mo and 19-year-old Chuxiong sensation Chen Yusheng accelerated and broke away. Wang Wen tried to hang on, but had to let go. In the distance, Yang Zidong rode in the wheel of Li Pengcheng with Chambers and Wu Bao Chao further back.

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oday's third stage of the 2023 Granfondo Yunnan saw an incredible winning performance by Wu Bao Chao. After negotiating the only major hilly difficulty of the day in the belly of the first group at km 30 of 120 in total, he went on the attack by himself and quickly developed a substantial gap. The only caveat, it was still more than 80km to go until the finish at that point!! Wu Bao Chao was 6th in the GC after the first two stages, but today laid a claim on the overall victory with his exploit in Dali around Erhai Lake. He steadily increased his advantage in splendid TT style and nobody would ever see him again. What a win for Wu Bao Chao in 2h47'55", AVS 43,1 km/h.

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The short stage up Mount Zixi near Chuxiong Old Town led to both a spectacular and emotional race win for 19-year-old youngster Chen Yusheng, who crossed the finish line by himself while crying from joy. Chen Yusheng was the best of an elite group of 14 that split away from the main peloton in the lower sections of the Mt Zixi climb. As the kilometers went by, it looked for a while that was going to end in a sprint with nine, including yellow jersey Luke Chambers, but suddenly Li Pengcheng, amongst others, launched a big attack. That seemingly brought Chambers in difficulty as the South African reached the finish line "only" in 12th position and 2'14" down on the winner. As a result, his yellow jersey as GC leader was under severe threat.

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Granfondo Yunnan 2023 started today with a 118km stage in Chengjiang, near Kunming, under a wonderful blue sky. Nearly 1200 riders took the start for the long distance race, the first edition post-covid and without strict participation limits. Seven riders took the lead on the first of two mountain climbs around km 35, but 2014 GF Yunnan winner Wei Kui had to let the other six go in the ensuing descent. The front group stayed together on the second climb, but broke up in the technical and long descent back to Fuxian Lake. Hong Kong-based South African Luke Chambers was the fastest in the downhill, and together with Yang Zidong opened up a gap on the remaining 25 km back to the finish on flattish roads.

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We are delighted to announce Chaba Brewing as our official beer sponsor for this year’s Granfondo Yunnan. Born and raised in Kunming, Yunnan, Chaba has become a significant brand name in the beer and restaurant market in the provincial capital. Founded and managed by a Belgian who has been living in Kunming for many years, Chaba will be showcasing their wide variety of beer labels during the last stage of this year’s event in Lijiang, including of course a fresh beverage for everyone at the finish.

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A selection of last weekend’s Granfondo Tengchong Challenge is available on our facebook page, weixin channel and the gallery below.

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Along Gaoligong, the second stage of the Granfondo Tengchong Festival is one of China’s toughest mass participation cycling races. A 170km challenge with long sections of continuous up & down, often over rough road surfaces and with countless corners. A technical challenge for the well-trained cyclist, both physically and mentally. Lose your concentration and you might hit the deck. The course was an amended version of the one used in the 2018 and 2019 Granfondo Yunnan, so those who had been there knew what they were getting into

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