Marcel Kittel takes a selfie with a fan(Image credit: Getty Images)
Didi the Devil signs autographs for fans(Image credit: Getty Images)
Marcel Kittel signs the mascot(Image credit: Getty Images)
Nils Politt shakes hands with a... well we're not entirely sure what it is(Image credit: Getty Images)
Tao Geoghegan Hart, Geraint Thomas and Jonathan Castroviejo(Image credit: Getty Images)
Geraint Thomas signs an autograph for a fan(Image credit: Getty Images)
A cold looking Tao Geoghegan Hart(Image credit: Getty Images)
Jonathan Castroviejo helps Geraint Thomas sign autographs(Image credit: Getty Images)
Tao Geoghegan Hart and Geraint Thomas(Image credit: Getty Images)
A fan takes a photo with Geraint Thomas(Image credit: Getty Images)
Geraint Thomas talks on stage(Image credit: Getty Images)
The Sky team are introduced on stage(Image credit: Getty Images)
Pierre Latour dresses up(Image credit: Twitter)
After the Saitama Criterium a couple of weeks ago, the peloton has moved to China for the second edition of the Shanghai Criterium. The racing isn’t until Saturday, but the riders got an opportunity to meet fans and try on some traditional clothes in the build-up to the event.
Peter Sagan, Geraint Thomas, Marcel Kittel and Romain Bardet are the headline names at this year’s Shanghai Criterium, with Pierre Latour, Jakob Fuglsang and Matteo Trentin also set to take part at the weekend.
It was a cold and wet day but the fans still came out in force to meet the riders. Thomas, who also went to the Saitama Criterium two weeks ago, was in big demand for autographs. Fuglsang went to meet some local children and took them on in a bike race, with the kids giving him a run for his money.
Later on in the day, a few of the riders got to try on some traditional dress when they were paid a visit by the Beijing Opera. Thomas, Sagan, Kittel and Latour were given colour-coded outfits relating to the different jerseys of the Tour de France. The four also got to learn a few of the Opera's moves live on stage as fans watched on.
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