{"id":171346,"date":"2018-11-13T07:42:36","date_gmt":"2018-11-13T07:42:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=171346"},"modified":"2018-11-13T07:42:56","modified_gmt":"2018-11-13T07:42:56","slug":"tour-de-france-goes-china-the-shanghai-criterium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/11\/13\/tour-de-france-goes-china-the-shanghai-criterium\/","title":{"rendered":"Tour de France Goes to China: The Shanghai Crit\u00e9rium"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>One would think that all the fame the Tour de France gathered on the European continent might satisfy the behemoth of cycling races but last year saw it moving its activities to Asia.<\/strong><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The Crit\u00e9rium is an official Tour de France offshoot event and, for now, exists in two versions only \u2013 The Saitama Crit\u00e9rium in Japan and the Chinese Shanghai Crit\u00e9rium. With the first one already behind us, we\u2019re going to talk about the latter which is about to happen this Saturday, on 17 November.<\/p>\n<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-171346 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-large'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/11\/BardetCriterium.webp'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"593\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/11\/BardetCriterium-593x1024.webp\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/11\/BardetCriterium-593x1024.webp 593w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/11\/BardetCriterium-174x300.webp 174w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/11\/BardetCriterium-768x1327.webp 768w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/11\/BardetCriterium.webp 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 593px) 100vw, 593px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/11\/SaganCriterium.webp'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"593\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/11\/SaganCriterium-593x1024.webp\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/11\/SaganCriterium-593x1024.webp 593w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/11\/SaganCriterium-174x300.webp 174w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/11\/SaganCriterium-768x1327.webp 768w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/11\/SaganCriterium.webp 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 593px) 100vw, 593px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/11\/ThomasCVR.webp'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"593\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/11\/ThomasCVR-593x1024.webp\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/11\/ThomasCVR-593x1024.webp 593w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/11\/ThomasCVR-174x300.webp 174w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/11\/ThomasCVR-768x1327.webp 768w, https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/11\/ThomasCVR.webp 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 593px) 100vw, 593px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>The official full name of the race is Le Tour de France \u0160koda China Crit\u00e9rium and was made possible by the A. S. O. \u2013 Amaury Sports Organisation \u2013 which is a world-famous company that owns, designs, and runs top international sporting events, specializing in the \u2018non-stadia\u2019 kind. As the name of the race suggests, \u0160koda is often the most notable sponsor of the A. S. O. cycling activities. With only the second year coming up, The Shanghai Crit\u00e9rium is a real newcomer on the scene. But the contender teams and their riders are certainly far from the greenhorn status. See for yourself:<\/p>\n<p>We have <strong>Team Sky<\/strong> with yellow jersey holder Geraint Thomas who is having his most successful season to date. Next is <strong>AG2R La Mondiale<\/strong> with Romain Bardet and white jersey holder Pierre Latour and <strong>Katusha-Alpecin<\/strong> with Marcel Kittel. Where there\u2019s Team Sky, there\u2019s, of course, <strong>Bora-Hansgrohe<\/strong> with the notorious character Peter Sagan, dressed in green again. <strong>Bahrain-Merida<\/strong> couldn\u2019t stay behind and will be bringing Antonio Nibali. Then we have <strong>Astana<\/strong> in full combat gear and <strong>Mitchelton-Scott<\/strong> team with the European champion Matteo Trentin. Accompanying those will be five more Chinese teams.<\/p>\n<lite-youtube videoid=FVFlK3jyBx4 params=\"enablejsapi=1\" style=\"background-image: url('https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi_webp\/FVFlK3jyBx4\/maxresdefault.webp');\"><\/lite-youtube>\n<p>The nature of the track isn\u2019t very similar to that of Le Tour. The potential rider can choose between two options \u2013 the Crit\u00e9rium Amateur ride of 21.8 km or the Crit\u00e9rium Pro, which is divided into twenty 3km-long laps. Both versions take place on the same urban track and don\u2019t leave Shanghai\u2019s downtown. As there are no slopes, hilly ascents, or other obstacles and the mainly flat course goes on in 20 laps, the Pro race resembles time-trial type events most of all. To make the laps as interesting as possible, the organisers planned the track along some of the most stunning sights of the city \u2013 one being the Oriental Pearl Tower and the other the China Art Museum. The Pro racers will see those twenty times in a row, after all, so let\u2019s make it count.<\/p>\n<p>According to estimates, the event expects to amass some 2,000 participants and about 50,000 on-site spectators. The riders will also receive some VIP treatment in the days leading to the race and afterwards, including introduction to Chinese traditional customs, culture, and food. We can\u2019t help but think that for the riders of the likes of Sagan or Thomas, it must feel like a slightly demanding holiday before the winter break of the 2018 season but there\u2019s still room for surprises! See you all in Shanghai this Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One would think that all the fame the Tour de France gathered on the European continent might satisfy the behemoth [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":171351,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[329],"tags":[2439,1467,2440,433],"global-categories":[],"class_list":["post-171346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-road-cycling","tag-chinese-shanghai-criterium","tag-saitama-criterium","tag-the-criterium","tag-tour-de-france"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.3 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Tour de France Goes to China: The Shanghai Crit\u00e9rium - \u0160koda We Love Cycling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One would think that all the fame the Tour de France gathered on the European continent might satisfy the behemoth of cycling races but last year saw it\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/11\/13\/tour-de-france-goes-china-the-shanghai-criterium\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tour de France Goes to China: The Shanghai Crit\u00e9rium\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One would think that all the fame the Tour de France gathered on the European continent might satisfy the behemoth of cycling races but last year saw it\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/11\/13\/tour-de-france-goes-china-the-shanghai-criterium\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-11-13T07:42:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-11-13T07:42:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/11\/Geraint-Thomas-Saitama-Criterium-0394000953.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Frantiska Blazkova\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/11\/13\/tour-de-france-goes-china-the-shanghai-criterium\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/11\/13\/tour-de-france-goes-china-the-shanghai-criterium\/\",\"name\":\"Tour de France Goes to China: The Shanghai Crit\u00e9rium - 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