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)