China's road cyclist Li Fuyu is likely to become the first
Chinese to compete at the renowned Tour de France after signing the
American pro team Discovery Channel, the Team of seven-time Tour
winner Lance Armstrong.
The move also puts Li on the track to become the country's first
men's road rider to race at the Olympics.
"This is something out of my expectation," Li told China Daily.
"I am very happy to be selected as a part of the best team in the
world. This is a dream come true for me.
"I hope that this will increase the awareness for the sport and
also cycling participation in China."
Li, a rider of China's Continental team Marco Polo, is the first
Chinese to join an International Cycling Union (UCI) ProTour team
and is given a chance to race at the top three cycling events in
the world - Tour de France, Tour de Spain and Giro'd Italia.
However, the 28-year-old from Shandong will face a tough
challenge in the 27-member team because only the top nine riders
can compete in the Tour de France, which takes place in July.
"For me, the first step is to get used to the team and the
high-level training and competitions there," said Li. "For sure,
all the riders dream of Tour of France, but I need to improve step
by step and earn my own spot in the team."
According to the Beijing Games qualification system, which
starts in January next year, the top 50 cyclists on the UCI men's
and women's rankings will automatically qualify for the 2008
Olympics and points mainly come from the UCI ProTour events.
Li will be scheduled to take part in a series of events
alongside with the Discovery Channel and is believed to have more
chances to collect Olympic qualification points.
Having won the Tenth National Games in October last tear, Li has
had a successful 2006 campaign riding for his current Marco Polo
Cycling Team.
He won the GP Westfalen in Germany and enjoyed an overall win at
the Tour of Thailand, the first time a Chinese rider ever won the
overall at an international pro race. Back home, he finished third
place in both the Road Race and Time Trial events at the Chinese
National Championships in August.
Discovery Channel faced a slump in ProTour following the
retirement of Armstrong. Its best rider Jose Azevedo was at a
modest No 18 on the final standings of the Tour de France this year
and the team slipped to No 8 on the team's rankings.
Li adds a 12th nationality to the team, which now boasts US
George Hincapie, Russian aces Yaroslav Popovych and Viatcheslav
Ekimov.
Discovery Channel's sports director Johan Bruyneel is confident
of Li's success.
"Fuyu has proven that he is a strong rider, has had some
impressive results and we are excited to have him as a member of
our Team," he said. "He will certainly need some time to get used
to the speed and style of racing but I will design a program that
allows him to be successful. I am sure he will adapt quickly."
Despite being known as a country with more than 300 million
bicycles, China has achieved nothing of note in the elite ProTour
level. In the home 2.HC event Tour of Qinghai Lake that ended two
months ago, Ma Haijun of the Marida team was the country's best
performer, finishing 25th but almost half an hour down on overall
winner Maarten Tjallingii, while all riders from China's national
team were out of top 60.
Small steps are being made to improve the performances. Jin Long
and Fang Xu joined Dutch-based squad Skil-Shimano this season,
while Hong Kong's Wu Kin San and Xu Gang train with
Lampre-Fondital, another UCI Pro Team.
In addition, Chinese teams are combining with bicycle factories
to boost the professionalism by inviting senior experts and
trainers from UCI top teams.
(China Daily September 27, 2006)