The Tour of Guangxi is the final race of the 2019 WorldTour, and for Katusha-Alpecin it is the last WorldTour race as a professional team before its takeover by the Israel Cycling Academy.

Harry Tanfield, the Swiss team's neo-pro, was one of the riders caught up in the post-merger game of musical chairs, and only riders with guaranteed contracts will be part of the newly formed team.

Speaking to Cycling News before the start of the race in the North Sea, the 24-year-old expressed hope for his future, but remains unsure exactly where his future lies, as team mergers and sponsor searches are often slow in coming.

"No, I don't know what's going on," Tanfield said. 'Obviously the team is going to merge with Israel, but I don't know if there's a place for everyone. It happens. We haven't signed a contract [with Katusha] for next year, so I don't know if there's an opening."

"We're talking to a couple of teams. 'Hopefully, we'll decide something next week or the week after. But at this point, I'm not sure yet.

The knee injury Tanfield refers to is the one that has plagued him throughout the second half of the season. Pointing to the front of his right knee, he said, "I wasn't expecting to race in China, but I had to travel regardless."

"The second half of the year was pretty hard, a lot of personal stuff. "Ultimately I didn't want to come here, a month ago I wanted to come here, but after the World Championships I got sick, and the last few races my knee has been really bad. So I had to come."

Tanfield won a medal at the World Championships in his native Yorkshire and was part of the British mixed relay TTT team that won bronze in Harrogate. Since then, however, he has been forced to retire from three races: the Sparkassen-Munsterland Giro, Binche-Chimay-Binche, and Paris-Tours.

"In Paris-Tour I didn't finish on Sunday. So at least I had a chance to rest.

"I hope it doesn't hurt, because I'm here. I won't know until I get on the bike, so I'm just going to move around and hope it's ok. It's a tendon near my knee, and I've felt it getting progressively worse over the last two months."

Guangxi is Tanfield's seventh World Tour this season, with the Bink Bank Tour and numerous Spring Classics a step up from his 2018 race with British Continental team Canyon Icebergs.

Aside from his medal at the World Championships, fifth place in the Bink Bank Tour stage 5 time trial was the highlight of Tanfield's debut season as a professional.

"It really wasn't a bad year. There were a lot of good races. I had a lot of good opportunities and a lot of good races."

The season-ending Chinese Grand Prix would have been another great opportunity to add to that list, but for Tanfield it was rather wasted. It was better to retire from the race early than risk further aggravating his problematic knee.

"I enjoy racing in China. I've raced here in the past, but I'm not in very good shape and I'm disappointed that my knee is keeping me from riding. But if I'm in good shape, I might ride in."

"So yeah, I just have to take each day as it comes. We'll get through today. I arrived here about a day and a half ago, so I feel half asleep now. So this is early morning in England. It was pretty hard to sleep.

"It hurts a little bit, but I can't help it. If I get hurt, I get hurt, and there's nothing I can do about it. So I can only hope that I'll be okay and I'll do my best and hopefully it'll work out."