diff --git a/Fluid.Tests/CycleStatementTests.cs b/Fluid.Tests/CycleStatementTests.cs
index a9b27d0f..e07ca818 100644
--- a/Fluid.Tests/CycleStatementTests.cs
+++ b/Fluid.Tests/CycleStatementTests.cs
@@ -9,11 +9,6 @@ namespace Fluid.Tests
 {
     public class CycleStatementTests
     {
-        private Statement[] TEXT(string text)
-        {
-            return new Statement[] { new TextSpanStatement(text) };
-        }
-
         private LiteralExpression LIT(string text)
         {
             return new LiteralExpression(new StringValue(text));
@@ -74,6 +69,35 @@ public async Task CycleEvaluatesGroupsValue()
             Assert.Equal("aabbccaabb", sw.ToString());
         }
 
+        [Fact]
+        public async Task CycleShouldGroupByStringRepresentation()
+        {
+            var group1 = new CycleStatement(
+                LIT(2),
+                new[] {
+                    LIT("a"), LIT("b"), LIT("c")
+                    }
+                );
+
+            var group2 = new CycleStatement(
+                LIT("2"),
+                new[] {
+                    LIT("a"), LIT("b"), LIT("c")
+                    }
+                );
+
+            var context = new TemplateContext();
+
+            var sw = new StringWriter();
+            for (var i = 1; i <= 5; i++)
+            {
+                await group1.WriteToAsync(sw, HtmlEncoder.Default, context);
+                await group2.WriteToAsync(sw, HtmlEncoder.Default, context);
+            }
+
+            Assert.Equal("abcabcabca", sw.ToString());
+        }
+
         [Fact]
         public async Task CycleShouldSupportNumbers()
         {
diff --git a/Fluid.Tests/TemplateTests.cs b/Fluid.Tests/TemplateTests.cs
index 5e791a20..a767e20d 100644
--- a/Fluid.Tests/TemplateTests.cs
+++ b/Fluid.Tests/TemplateTests.cs
@@ -371,6 +371,8 @@ public Task ShouldEvaluateCaseStatement(int x, string expected)
         [Theory]
         [InlineData(@"{%cycle 'a', 'b'%}{%cycle 'a', 'b'%}{%cycle 'a', 'b'%}", "aba")]
         [InlineData(@"{%cycle x:'a', 'b'%}{%cycle 'a', 'b'%}{%cycle x:'a', 'b'%}", "aab")]
+        [InlineData(@"{%cycle 2:'a', 'b'%}{%cycle '2': 'a', 'b'%}", "ab")]
+        [InlineData(@"{%cycle 'a', 'b'%}{%cycle foo: 'a', 'b'%}", "ab")]
         public Task ShouldEvaluateCycleStatement(string source, string expected)
         {
             return CheckAsync(source, expected, ctx => { ctx.SetValue("x", 3); });
diff --git a/Fluid/Ast/CycleStatement.cs b/Fluid/Ast/CycleStatement.cs
index 0c469fcc..626c6f07 100644
--- a/Fluid/Ast/CycleStatement.cs
+++ b/Fluid/Ast/CycleStatement.cs
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ public override async ValueTask<Completion> WriteToAsync(TextWriter writer, Text
         {
             context.IncrementSteps();
 
-            var groupValue = Group == null ? "$defautGroup" : "$" + (await Group.EvaluateAsync(context)).ToStringValue();
+            var groupValue = Group == null ? "$cycle_" : "$cycle_" + (await Group.EvaluateAsync(context)).ToStringValue();
 
             var currentValue = context.GetValue(groupValue);
 
diff --git a/Fluid/FluidParser.cs b/Fluid/FluidParser.cs
index 752e23c9..a2add549 100644
--- a/Fluid/FluidParser.cs
+++ b/Fluid/FluidParser.cs
@@ -226,17 +226,10 @@ public FluidParser()
                         .Then<Statement>(x => new CaptureStatement(x.Item1, x.Item2))
                         .ElseError("Invalid 'capture' tag")
                         ;
-            var CycleTag = ZeroOrOne(Identifier.AndSkip(Colon))
+            var CycleTag = ZeroOrOne(Primary.AndSkip(Colon))
                         .And(Separated(Comma, Primary))
                         .AndSkip(TagEnd)
-                        .Then<Statement>(x =>
-                        {
-                            var group = string.IsNullOrEmpty(x.Item1)
-                                ? null
-                                : new LiteralExpression(StringValue.Create(x.Item1));
-
-                            return new CycleStatement(group, x.Item2);
-                        })
+                        .Then<Statement>(x => new CycleStatement(x.Item1, x.Item2))
                         .ElseError("Invalid 'cycle' tag")
                         ;
             var DecrementTag = Identifier.AndSkip(TagEnd)