Chinese road riders taste acceleration through studying abroad

Sports / China

Chinese road riders taste acceleration through studying abroad

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-07-17 08:31

The 29-year-old Li Fuyu is competing in Xihaizhen at his fifth Tour of
Qinghai Lake. This time, the dazzling Discovery Channel team jersey not
only gave him a new look but also did a boost in standings.

In the first two stages at this year's Tour of Qinghai Lake starting on
July 14th, Li mounted the platform twice with the blue jersey and managed
a 15th placing in the total of 139 competitors.

"I believe I have made improvements in all aspects," said Li, who became
the first Chinese rider to sign with a UCI (International Cycling Union)
professional team at the beginning of this year.

"Now, I can adjust myself to the competition more quickly and be much
tougher during the race," said the Shandong native.

Ekimov Viatcheslav, the team manager of Discovery Channel at the race,
was even more confident about Li's progress. The 41-year-old Olympic gold
medalist believed that the moment Li joined the team, he had made a huge
progress.

"It meant that he was able to compete on a much higher level," said the
15-time Tour de France participant, "and he was surely stronger while
competing with such a strong team."

Li had taken part in dozens of races with Discovery Channel team and
managed to take seven Pro Tour points in the team time trial in
Eindhoven, the Netherlands last month, which practically means that he
qualifies for the Olympic road race in Beijing next year.

"The team is very strong and we fight as a group," Li repeatedly insisted
during the race. But it's still unknown if there is any teammate to
assist him at the Olympic Games.

Ma Haijun was another Chinese rider taking advantage of studying abroad.

Ma showed his potential by finishing third in a stage of last year's Tour
of Qinghai Lake. Afterwards, the 22-year-old Qinghai native obtained the
opportunity to train in the UCI World Cycling Center this year.

"The training enabled me to improve a lot," said Ma, who has been
training in Switzerland for four months.

"I rarely participated in any event while training at home," Ma said,
"But since I went to Switzerland, I competed once or twice every week."

Ma thought the rich opportunities of competition gave him more space to
improve.

"I'm more aware of the ways of competing and understand how to attack in
different conditions," said Ma.

Earlier this month, Ma proved his maturity by wining the 40km individual
time trial at the B World Championships in South Africa.

Ma is also speeding up at the Tour of Qinghai Lake. He was ranked 22nd
after the first two stages and was the second best Asian rider in
Xihaizhen just after Li.

Besides, three young riders represent the UCI Euro pro team Skil-Shimano
of the Netherlands at the race, among whom both Jin Long and Ji Cheng
were ranked much higher than the Chinese national team's riders except Ma
Haijun.

According to Chinese team manager Li Wei, cycling is a sport demanding
high professionism. China could only provide limited amount of races for
their own riders at home. Therefore, joining foreign teams or training
abroad are positive for the Chinese riders to improve.

Yao Li, an official from the Chinese cycling association said, most of
the excellent road cyclists in the world came from pro teams, and China
is doing its best abiding by the "going out" strategy.

Since 2005, China has sent nearly 30 riders including 20 women cyclists
to the European pro teams. They competed more than 30 races in less than
a year, almost ten times more than they did in China.

Those lucky riders not only gained a lot of experience but also learnt
the advanced skills and tactics.

Yao stressed that there would be more Chinese riders being sent to
foreign pro teams in the future.

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