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Chinese cycling teams explore path to world's center stage

2012-07-09 09:38 Xinhua    comment

China's Tour of Qinghai Lake has gained world fame in its eleven years's hard toil, but the Chinese cyclists seem to have a long way to ride before they can reach the world's center stage.

In almost each of the past stages in the tour, there were moments when Chinese riders were leading, which, however, failed to stop Chinese teams from dropping in rankings.

After the ninth stage on Sunday, all the four Chinese teams based in the mainland have ranked among the bottom six of all 22 competing teams. There is another Chinese team based in Hong Kong, which is ranked 10th.

"Every day, we see Chinese riders race hard, which is very admirable," said Qiu Jijin, an International Cycling Union (UCI) official, "but there is still a long way to go before Chinese cycling teams can compete against world-class ones."

China's road cycling is developing slowly, which should be attributed not only to riders themselves, but also to the management of cycling teams and coaches, said Australian William Clinch, who is working with the organizing committee.

Nine Chinese cycling teams, consisting of around 100 riders, have registered with UCI, according to Qiu, but most of them are not as "professional" as they claim to be.

Yan Li, manager of the Qinghai Tianyoude Cycling Team, said:"Professional cyclists are supposed to make a living utterly by riding, with their salaries paid by their teams, but this is not exactly the case with many Chinese cycling teams."

According to Yan, all the regular riders in his team are from the provincial sports team of Qinghai, which is directly under the Qinghai Sports Bureau. Similarly, riders of China's Malak Cycling Team (MCT) and Gansu Sports Lottery (GTC) belong to the national Bayi cycling team and provincial sports team of Gansu, respectively.

"These teams are jointly financed by the government and enterprises, which, seemingly less than professional, addresses practical difficulties," Yan said.

Back in 2009, when Tianyoude registered with the UCI and became Qinghai's first professional cycling team, it received 600,000 yuan (about 94,260 U.S. dollars) from a liquor company and 400,000 from the Qinghai Sports Bureau.

"But for the financial support from the government, this team would not have survived," Yan said.

But 1 million yuan is far from enough to run a money-consuming cycling team. "A 100,000-yuan bicycle for each of the near 10 riders in the team, entry fees for cycling races and other daily expenses...Everything costs," Yan said. "It's lucky that the government covers the payment for the riders, doctor, massager and interpreter."

Yan has never given up on seeking corporate support, though. Over recent years, he has successfully talked an increasing number of enterprises into offering a helping hand. Currently, more than 10 are supporting Tianyoude with money or bicycle components like the tire and brake system.

"As the team has gradually made its name via the Tour of Qinghai Lake, more and more sponsors are coming to us," Yan said.

Increasing international exchanges have been another step that Tianyoude has taken to enhance its competence.

According to Yan, the team has sent three riders over the past three years to train and race in foreign cycling teams. This year, it has also invited three professional cyclists from Australia and Indonesia to compete on its behalf in the Tour of Qinghai Lake. "We are on the right track of becoming a genuine professional team," he said.

In a similar move, China's 361 Cycling Team brought in four riders from Uzbekistan, eyeing better performance than the previous year.

However, these foreign riders have by far performed less satisfactorily than expected, Qiu Jijin said. "Riders introduced from abroad should excel domestic ones. There must have been better options for Chinese teams."

But Qiu also acknowledged that inviting foreign riders was "a significant step in finding such a path to professionalism as best suits Chinese cycling teams."

William Clinch suggested that Chinese riders seek improvement by participating in more international races.

"The next step for a lot of Chinese cyclists is to go to Europe, get in some small developing teams and learn to race harder, and then learn to race in big races in Europe," he went on to elaborate.

"I am sure in next five years, Chinese riders could end up winning the Tour of Qinghai Lake," Clinch said.

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