Gearing up to turn pedals into medals

China is the world's No 1 producer of bicycles and boasts the largest number of daily riders, but the nation still lags far behind the global pack when it comes to competitive cycling.

The Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region last year embraced the Tour of Guangxi, part of the UCI World Tour, with more than 100 top international riders representing 18 teams in the 940-km race. It marked the first World Tour event in China since the Tour of Beijing, which ran from 2011-14.

The absence of the sport's top tour competition was another obstacle on the bumpy road of professional cycling's development in the nation, but on Monday organizers announced the return of the race to five cities of Guangxi from Oct 16-21.