Tour of Zhoushan Island 2013

16-18.05.2013
China, Three-stage Road Race
UCI 2.2

2012 winner Emile Moberg

China is a long way from Europe and America, where the majority of the UCI Elite Women are based, and even a considerable distance from Australia and New Zealand, where most of those who aren't from Europe and America are based. It makes practical sense, then, to hold China's third race in the series a few days after Chongming Island before the riders spend all but a few sorties into Canada, the USA, Brazil and the Middle East (where three races are due to take place in Syria, but might very easily not due to the situation in that country) in professional cycling's more usual haunts.

It sounds like a replay of Chongming with three stages on a large Chinese island, but is in fact Zhoushan is very different: whereas pancake-flat Chongming is formed from silt washed down the Yangtze River and doesn't rise any higher than a few metres out of the water, Zhoushan (in fact one of an archipelago of 1,390 islands) was created by different geological processes and boasts valleys, dales and a highest point 503m above sea level. Nevertheless, the first edition in 2012 was won by Hitec Products-UCK's sprinter Emilie Moberg; that year, there were two races with the one-day Tour of Zhoushan Island II being won by Chinese rider Xiao Hui Liu after the stage race. This year, only the stage race takes place.

There's no official website for the race as of yet and details are sketchy - more information will be added here as it becomes available.

2012 statistics
Stage 1 Emilie Moberg
Stage 2 Zhao Juan Meng
General Classification Emilie Moberg