CANYON//SRAM Racing will race in China for first time, at the Tour of Guangxi on Sunday 21 October. The team takes a five-rider squad to the final UCI Women’s WorldTour race of the season: Alena Amialiusik, Hannah Barnes, Tanja Erath, Christa Riffel and Leah Thorvilson.

Both Barnes and Amialiusik extended their road season due to injuries suffered at the Giro Rosa and are relishing the chance to have another race before taking an end of season break.

Though Amialiusik, along with Barnes, was part of the team that won gold at the team time trial world championships, the Belarusian road champion hasn’t raced on the road since breaking her shoulder in July.

“I want to be back in the peloton. It will be my first time racing in China and I can’t wait to meet my teammates there. After the world championships, I’ve been at training at home in Belarus. The autumn weather has been extraordinarily good here and I’m feeling really ready to race. I think we have a good chance to get a nice result,” said Amialiusik.

“I haven’t done this race before or been to China so it’s all very exciting,” agreed Barnes.

“After my time off mid-season with a broken collarbone I decided to carry on until China. It’s a new race for me which is always good to do and a nice way to finish the season. I haven’t lacked any motivation to train the past weeks and I am feeling good leading into the race. I started the season well in Valencia (Barnes won the general classification at Setmana Ciclista Valenciana) and I would love to finish it with a good race in China,” said Barnes.

With Erath, Riffel and Thorvilson joining the experience of Amialiusik and Barnes, the team will be in a strong position for the 145km, relatively flat course. With one small climb mid-race on the Guilin circuit, a bunch sprint is highly anticipated. Racing can be followed on Twitter with #UCIWWT from 03:00 CEST | 09:00 local time.

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