The agreement, announced today, include the creation of the Tour of Guangxi, a new stop on the UCI World Tour due to take place in October next year.

China will also play host to the UCI Cycling Gala in Guilin in 2017.

The first three editions of the UCI Urban Cycling World Championships will also take place in China in 2017, 2018 and 2019. 

Mountain bike cross-country eliminator, trials and BMX freestyle park competitions will take place in an "innovative new concept designed to inspire a whole new generation of urban cycling fans".

Wanda Sports will also build a cycling centre that will serve as a satellite to the UCI World Cycling Centre in Aigle, Switzerland. 

The centre, hailed as an "enormous boost" to cycling, will include an international competition 250 metres indoor track, a BMX track and a road circuit.

“We are absolutely delighted to announce this partnership with Wanda Sports which will provide a huge boost to cycling in China and I would like to thank Wanda Sports for their support and commitment to our sport," said UCI President Brian Cookson.

"The UCI's main role is to grow and develop cycling globally and China provides us with a wonderful opportunity to engage with literally hundreds of millions more people."

“In addition to staging races, it is crucially important that we have facilities to develop young athletes and I am particularly pleased that Wanda Sports will build and fund a development centre linked to the UCI World Cycling Centre in Switzerland. 

"In Rio, we had 34 former or current UCI WCC trainees competing for Olympic medals and with this investment by Wanda, it is clear that in the future we will see more and more Chinese athletes competing at top international level in all cycling disciplines.”

Bike ownership across China is over 600 million and the country is widely regarded as having huge growth potential for both recreational and competitive cycling. 

It is also considered a lucrative market for the commercial development of the sport.

A women's elite race will take place alongside the Tour of Guangxi next year and could form part of the UCI World Tour in 2018.

Both male and female races will also be mass participation events as the event receives "extensive international and national TV coverage".

“We are extremely pleased to be announcing this investment in cycling in China," said Dalian Wanda Group's billionaire chairman Wang Jianlin following today's announcement.

"This partnership with the UCI and the region of Guangxi represents a major addition to our sporting portfolio. 

"We know that China has a tremendous potential in cycling and we are proud that Wanda Sports will be instrumental in realising that potential, with the support of great partners.”

The deal continues the growing influence of conglomerate Dalian Wanda in sport.

They are also a leading sponsor of football world governing body FIFA as well as a major rights distributor of badminton and triathlon events.

The company also own Infront Sports & Media, whose four-year right distributing deal with the UCI ended this year.

In February, Infront signed a 10-year agreement with Velon, a joint business venture between 11 WorldTour teams, with the partnership claimed to be key to bringing fans closer to cycling.