Cycling conjures up two very different images: the standard form of transport for many in China on the one hand, a classic European sport on the other.

Now a group of elite Chinese riders is looking to bridge the gap by making a splash in the cycling events at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Led by Discovery Channel star Li Fuyu, four Chinese men's road riders have earned an Olympic spot for the first time.

Li, the only Chinese competing in a top professional team, became the first Chinese to achieve the feat by finishing fourth at the Team Sprint Event in the Netherlands last month. Ma Haijun, Song Baoqing and Hong Kong cyclist Wong Kam Po followed him to win entries to the World Class-B Championships in South Africa last week.

Despite its fame as the country with the most bicycles in the world, a Chinese road cyclist has never participated in the Olympics in the sport's 100-year history.

"This is a dream come true," Li told China Daily. "I was thrilled knowing I am able to compete at the Olympics at home especially as the first road cyclist. I hope this will increase awareness for the sport and also cycling participation in China."

Joining the Olympics was once a mission-impossible for Chinese road cyclists as none were competing in ProTour Races four years ago. According to the Games qualification system, the top 50 cyclists in the International Cycling Union (UCI) men's and women's rankings will automatically qualify for the Olympics and points mainly come from UCI ProTour events. The other entry route is if riders finish in the top five at the World Championships.

China's sole hope at recent Olympics came in women's indoor time trial event. Jiang Yonghua, the 500-meter world record holder, pocketed China a silver medal at the Athens Games.

But the country had to turn to road events after the UCI abruptly took two time trials events out of the Beijing Olympics program last year.

European experience

Since 2005, the Chinese Cycling Association (CCA) has sent more than 20 riders to join overseas pro-teams and races in Europe to give them the chance of racing in more than 30 events a year, which gets them much more experience and improves their skills faster than if they were in China.

Li, the Tenth National Games road champion, was drafted by former Tour de France Team event winner Discovery Channel. However, he failed to make the team's elite nine-man squad for this this year's Tour. His national team buddies Jin Long and Fang Xu are with pro team Skil-Shimano and Yu Tong and Ma are competing for Marco Polo.

The country's outreach effort appears to be paying off - Ma won the title at the men's 40km time trial at the Worlds, Song came fifth and Wong was third in men's 161km time trial.

"We aim to make a breakthrough in cycling by adopting professionalism, and it has already been proved to be the best approach," said Jiang Guofeng, secretary-general of the CCA. "We had struggled to improve the level of our riders because they had hardly any opportunity to do that before. But the situation changed when we found the path. I am happy to see we've got four Olympic tickets and I believe we are moving in the right direction."

But it is not easy for Chinese to follow the "right direction", as Li has found the gap with European counterparts to be considerable.

Li participated in six races with the US side and established himself in the team. In the Team Event in the Netherlands, he was picked by the team manager and earned his chance to collect Olympic points.

"I was overwhelmed in my first week with the team as I couldn't keep up with my European teammates, even in training," he said. "The training schedule is a lot tougher than when I was in the national team.

"I have to increase to my workouts to fill in the gap with those guys. You have to go out to compete in different races around the world, otherwise there is no chance to move up for riders like us."

Li, together with Ma and Song, will be joining the 9-day Tour of Qinghai Lake, which starts on July 13 in Xining, Qinghai Province. The team will continue its effort to gain Olympic points at the race.

In the home 2.HC event last year, the highest level in Asia, 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. All riders from China's national team were outside the top 60.

Professional teams

As major races show, the elite riders all come from professional teams. Cycling teams are classified into four categories - UCI pro-team, UCI continental pro-team, continental team and national team. Only UCI pro-teams are able to go into the top three tours of cycling (Tour de France, Tour de Italy and Tour de Spain).

A professional cycling team requires sponsorship to fund a 50-member contingent consisting a of a team manager, 1-2 assistant managers, 2-3 massagists, 2-3 machinists and about 30 riders.

The top riders in Europe can earn 500,000 euros each year and professional riders are permitted to transfer between teams.

China has yet to establish its own pro-team at any level.

The Tour of Qinghai Lake, which has entered its sixth 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.

According to CCA Chief Jiang, riders in road cycling races need not only strength and strong will, but experience and tactics to overcome various road conditions, weather, surroundings and stratagies from rivals.

(China Daily July 13, 2007)