October 15.
The only UCI WorldTour race held in China, and the last of the 2024 season, finally got underway.
Fangchenggang had been packed for days before the race, a sign of just how big the event would be.
Most UCI WorldTour teams had chosen not to bring their star riders to this season finale. But with Huang Chong on the start list, the race was guaranteed attention, buzz, and viewers.
Huang Chong arrived on his Olympic Gold Bike, wearing a gold helmet and his distinctive Rainbow Jersey. With all the titles he had won, simply appearing at the start line was like stacking every possible champion buff.
And he was far from the only star riding this year's Tour of Guangxi.
There was four-time Tour de France champion Chris Froome, affectionately nicknamed "Big Cousin" by fans; former king of Asian cycling Lutsenko; Narváez of Ineos Grenadiers; Milan Vader of Visma–Lease a Bike; Oscar Onley of Team dsm-firmenich; Wellens and Sivakov of UAE Team Emirates; Plapp of Jayco AlUla; and Stefan of Trek, among others.
Huang Chong was a general classification rider. Apart from Chris Froome, every rider on that list was a major rival in his bid to defend his Tour of Guangxi title for a second time.
Judging by their results this year, though, none of them posed much of a threat to him, truth be told.
This year's Tour of Guangxi had also changed its route from last year. The opening circuit in Fangchenggang was the only flat stage.
The remaining five stages all featured a fair amount of climbing, with varying degrees of difficulty.
Even the Fangchenggang stage included three short, steep climbs.
They were not officially designated as categorized climbs and offered no climbing points, but with four laps of the course, the stage's total