As many as 21 Chinese riders out of a total 140 cyclists in the
Tour of Qinghai Lake have failed to make impact when the nine-day
competition conclude on Sunday.
After nine stages in the home county, the Chinese riders' best
result is a third finish in one stage.
Experts have suggested only by reinforcing the professionalism
of Chinese riders and teams can China establish itself in
international races.
"China need to professionalism its cycling teams and cyclists in
order to be competitive in international cycling races," said Bayi,
a senior official of UCI (international cycling governing body) and
advisor of the Tour of Qinghai Lake.
As major races show, the elite riders all come from professional
teams. Cycling teams are classified into four categories--UCI , UCI
, continental team and national team -- by UCI. Only teams in the
UCI and UCI categories can go into the top three Tours of cycling
(Tour de France, Tour de Italy and Tour de Spain).
A professional cycling team requires a sponsorship for a
50-member contingent consisting a team manager, 1-2 assistant
managers, 2-3 massagists, 2-3 machinists and about 30 riders.
Professional cyclists go to races every week, so they can take
part in around 50 races a year just like professional soccer
players do, as Bayi explained. The top riders in Europe can earn
500 thousand euros yearly and the professional riders are permitted
to transfer between teams.
But in China, a country dubbed as the Kingdom of Bicycles,
cycling is regarded mainly as a way of traffic rather than a
competitive sport.
The Tour of Qinghai Lake, which has entered its fifth year, is
in urgent need of competitive native participants and the
involvement of top overseas teams to sustain its momentum and
enhance its sway domestically and internationally.
Riders in road cycling races need not only strength and strong
will, but experience and tactics to overcome various road
conditions, weather, surroundings and stratagem from rivals,
according to Jiang Guofeng, chief of the China Cycling Association
(CCA).
The participation of top native riders is necessary for a race
to thrive. Japan had hosted the Tour of Japan years before, but the
race failed to thrive due to the lack of native superiors.
"CCA aims to make breakthrough in cycling by adopting
professionalism, and it has already been proved to be the best
approach," said Wang Xuanqing, CCA vice president.
Since 2005, CCA has sent out more than 20 riders to join
overseas professional teams in Europe to bestow them chances of
racing in more than 30 events a year, which gets them much more
experience and improve their skills faster than in China.
In addition, Chinese teams are combining with bicycle factories
to boost the professionalism by inviting senior experts and
trainers from UCI top teams.
"It won't be long for China to establish continental teams
involved in international races," Wang said.
(Xinhua News Agency July 24, 2006)