Tour of Chongming Island 2026 – Stage 1 [FULL STAGE] (ladies)

October 9, 2026

Tour of Chongming Island 2026 🇨🇳 (2.WWT) WE – Stage 1 – Chongming – Chongming : 110,4 km

Tour of Chongming Island is a UCI Women’s WorldTour multi-stage road race across the predominantly flat terrain of Chongming Island, combining wide paved roads, open agricultural landscapes and fast urban sections. The route typically features three stages with minimal elevation gain, placing the emphasis on sustained speed, positioning and repeated accelerations rather than climbing ability. Short rises are rare, with most roads remaining flat and gradients generally below 3%. The main challenges come from exposed coastal roads, crosswinds and long straight sections where the peloton can split into echelons. Riders must remain attentive to changes in wind direction and position themselves near the front before narrow passages and finishing circuits. Breakaways can form early, but the flat profile allows sprint teams to organize the chase and control the race. High-speed positioning becomes increasingly important in the closing kilometres, where lead-out trains compete for space. Stage finishes generally favor bunch sprints, although crosswinds and late attacks can produce reduced groups or breakaway victories.

Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-ProTime) remained in a league of her own in the sprints as she powered to victory on stage 1 of the Tour of Chongming Island in China.

The Dutch rider easily moved away from Clara Copponi (Lidl-Trek) and Lara Gillespie (UAE L’IMAD) in the final run to the line at Chongming New City Park on Friday, claiming her 21st victory of the season.

By the time the race reaches its conclusion on Sunday, it’s likely Wiebes will have upped that tally to 24, with two more stage wins and the general classification title looking the most likely outcome over flat terrain.

Wiebes has managed the hat-trick of stages before at the Chinese Women’s WorldTour event, back in 2019 when she was racing for Parkhotel Valkenburg, where she also won the GC, points, and best young rider’s classifications.

SD Worx weren’t forced into doing all of the work on the laps around the southern part of the island in Shanghai, but did have to react to a late move from Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Liv AlUla Jayco) in the last 6km.

Everything was brought back before the final 2km, with Lidl-Trek, Jayco, and UAE all taking up the position at the front of the peloton at times, but Wiebes was always lurking with Barbara Guarischi ready to do the final lead-out.

Gillespie had managed to get herself in between Wiebes and her final lead-out rider, but she was jumped by the Dutch rider, who kicked out of her wheel for another dominant victory, the 139th of her already incredible career.

Wiebes is expected to win again on Saturday’s stage from Changxing Island Country Park to Chongming New City Park, with another flat 129.4km route on offer.

The peloton is also noticeably smaller at the Chinese race, with five teams pulling out in September after the UCI decided to remove mandatory participation for the event.

Results :