Barnes and Amialiusik lead Canyon-SRAM for Tour of Guangxi
Both riders returning to best form for UCI Women's WorldTour race in China on Sunday
Canyon-SRAM will take a five-rider team that includes British time trial champion Hannah Barnes and Belarusian road race champion Alena Amialiusik to the Tour of Guangxi women's race, which starts and finishes in Guilin, China, on Sunday.
The 145.8-kilometre-long one-day race race is the final round of the UCI Women's WorldTour, and the climb on the otherwise flat circuit will challenge the field at the end of what's been a long season for many.
Both Barnes and Amialiusik are coming back to their best form after injuries sustained at the Giro Rosa in July, but both were members of the Canyon-SRAM team that won gold in the team time trial at the UCI Road World Championships in Innsbruck, Austria, last month.
"I haven't done this race before, or been to China, so it's all very exciting," Barnes said in a team statement.
"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."
Barnes returned to competition at the GP de Plouay in late August, and then rode the Boels Ladies Tour prior to taking part in the Worlds team time trial and the Worlds road race, in which she finished 45th.
"I haven't lacked any motivation to train the past weeks, and I'm feeling good leading into the race. I started the season well in Valencia," Barnes continued, referring to her overall victory at the Setmana Ciclista Valenciana in February, "and I would love to finish it with a good race in China."
Amialiusik broke her shoulder in a crash on stage 4 of the Giro Rosa, and has only since raced at the World team time trial and individual time trial, where she took 20th place.
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The Tour of Guangxi therefore marks her return to road racing.
"I want to be back in the peloton," said Amialiusik. "It will be my first time racing in China, and I can't wait to meet my teammates there.
'Since the World Championships, I've been training at home in Belarus. The autumn weather has been extraordinarily good there, and I'm feeling really ready to race. I think we have a good chance to get a nice result," she said.
Canyon-SRAM for the Tour of Guangxi women's race: Alena Amialiusik, Hannah Barnes, Tanja Erath, Christa Riffel, Leah Thorvilson
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