Eight days. 1,352.7 km. Altitude from 2,000 m to 3,000 m+. A mountains classification decided by a single point. This is the full story of our 2026 Tour of Magnificent Qinghai.
The race nobody can train for
Every season, the UCI calendar sends the peloton somewhere that resets expectations. This year, that place was Qinghai.
The 25th Tour of Magnificent Qinghai (UCI 2.Pro, 11–18 July 2026) took the world's professionals back around Qinghai Lake for the first time in more than a decade. The numbers alone are a warning: 1,352.7 km of racing, most of it above 2,000 m, with stages climbing past 3,000 m. The field was the strongest the race has seen — one UCI WorldTeam (XDS Astana), eight ProTeams, and thirteen Continental teams, 154 riders in all.
And then the weather made it harder. Rain fell from the opening stage and never really stopped. On Stage 5, extreme conditions took around 30 riders out of the race in a single day. On Stage 6, the race's longest stage, fog and near-freezing temperatures forced the organizers to neutralize the stage at the second mountain summit. This is what the "highest race on the UCI calendar" actually looks like: a week-long test of lungs, equipment, and nerve.
For FNIX–SCOM–Hengxiang, the eight days produced a story that can be measured in a single point.
One point — the margin that decided the 2026 mountains classification.
Day 1 — the breakaway that earned a jersey
The race opened in the rain in Xining (Stage 1, 121 km). With the field nervous in the city circuit and the roads slick, the early attacks came and went. Then, 80 km from home, the move that mattered finally went: Markus Pajur, with Tegshbayar Batsaikhan (Roojai Insurance Winspace) and Calum Johnston (Li-Ning Star).
Three riders. One objective. They built the gap past two minutes, and Pajur made the break count: KOM points and sprint points banked at the day's intermediate checks, then more at the second climb. The peloton only brought them back inside the final lap.
The stage went to Alexander Salby (Li-Ning Star) in the bunch sprint. But the day's most valuable prize went to Pajur: the polka dot jersey as mountains classification leader — and third overall at +4".
Markus Pajur in action on SCOM deep-section carbon wheels during the opening stage.
Day 2 — the mountains rewrite the script
If Day 1 was about opportunism, Day 2 was about survival. Stage 2 (Huangyuan–Menyuan) was 224.6 km with 2,947 m of climbing — the Beishan and Bahadaban passes, both climbed out of the valley. The race split early on the first climb. When the day was done, Gabriele Bessega (Team Polti VisitMalta) had won from a reduced group sprint.
For Pajur, it was a day that changed the race: 15 minutes lost, third overall to 80th, and the mountains jersey moving on. Mountain racing at altitude does not forgive a bad day — it banks it.
The team's general classification leadership now belonged to Jonas Rapp.
The pivot — Rapp's climb through the week
- Stage 3 (Menyuan–Huzhu): 8th on the stage, GC 9th at +12".
- Stage 4 (Huzhu–Guide): GC 10th at +26".
- Stage 5 (Guide–Gonghe): the weather turned. Around 30 non-finishers across the field.
Through the damage, Rapp kept taking KOM points on every summit he crossed.
SCOM deep-section carbon wheels in the Tour of Magnificent Qinghai peloton.
Stage 6 — fog at 3,000 metres
The longest stage of the race, Gonghe–Gangcha at 232.6 km, was also the one the weather took. After the second KOM summit, with fog cutting visibility and temperatures near zero, the race was neutralized. The stage result would never be written.
But the classification still counted. Rapp's climbing through the week — every point banked before the fog closed in — moved him into the mountains lead. The polka dots returned to #173.
Stage 7 — attacking in the polka dots
Gangcha–Xihaizhen, 130 km, climbed in the high country. Wearing the jersey he had earned, Rapp did what the jersey demands: he attacked from the front. The race's cameras followed #173 riding the climbs on the attack, exactly where a mountains leader should be.
The stage went to César Macías (Burgos Burpellet BH) in a sprint. The jersey, for the moment, stayed in our tent.
The final numbers
The closing stage around Qinghai Lake (Xihaizhen–Qinghai Lake Scenic Area, 146 km) went to Iúri Leitão (Caja Rural–Seguros RGA) in the sprint. Jonathan Caicedo (Wheeltop Rotor Chengdu) sealed the overall title. For FNIX–SCOM–Hengxiang, the ledger:
Mountains classification, final: 17 points to 18.
| Result | Rider | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| GC 28th | Jonas Rapp (GER) | +22'30" |
| Mountains 2nd | Jonas Rapp (GER) | 17 pts — one point behind the winner |
| GC 51st | Cyrus Monk (AUS) | +58'27" |
| GC 76th | Māris Bogdanovičs (LAT) | +1:31'17" |
| Team GC | FNIX–SCOM–Hengxiang | 13th of 22 |
Final standings — FNIX–SCOM–Hengxiang, 2026 Tour of Magnificent Qinghai.
One point
The mountains classification finished 18 points to 17 — Cristián Rodríguez (XDS Astana) ahead of Jonas Rapp. One point. A single summit finish, a single bonus, a single decision somewhere in eight days of racing.
One point from the jersey. That is the difference between the story we wanted and the story we got — and it is exactly the kind of margin this team races for. Next time, we close it.
Equipment under pressure
The 2026 Tour of Magnificent Qinghai was a stress test few products get: rain from the opening stage, extreme cold, fog that cancelled a stage, and a day that emptied the race of 30 riders. The team raced the entire week on FNIX frames and SCOM deep-section carbon wheels — braking hard into 3,000 m descents in the wet, climbing out of them the next morning.
Altitude does not forgive bad engineering. The equipment did not flinch. That is the point of racing: everything we learn at the front of the hardest races goes into every wheelset we build.
SCOM and VOSO
SCOM is the competition line — wheels built for racing, validated at the highest level of the sport. VOSO is the line built for daily training and the commute: the same family of riders, from the start line to the morning ride. Race on one. Ride on the other. Both are engineered to the same standard of honesty.
About the team
FNIX–SCOM–Hengxiang is a UCI Continental team racing the Chinese and Asian calendar, carrying on the legacy of the Hengxiang (恒翔) project and partnering with FNIX since 2025. SCOM and VOSO are wheel brands of the Hongji (鸿基) group.
Race data: stage results, classifications and final standings per ProCyclingStats and the 2026 Tour of Magnificent Qinghai official records. Weather and race reports per Xinhua, Guangming Daily and race-day coverage.