First-ever Tour of Beijing to promote cycling in China
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BEIJING, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- The first-ever tour of Beijing will promote cycling in China, said UCI president Pat McQuaid here on Wednesday.
"There is an interest and a market here, and sponsors want an exposure in Europe." said McQuaid.
The race will boost domestic cycling in China and also accelerate the ambitions of Westen teams. "Several teams will have a sponsor in the car during the race," added McQuaid.
As part of the UCI Worldtour, the tour of Beijing automatically draw the participation of the 18 UCI ProTeams. China also organized its national team to participate in this race. The team China is made up of nine riders who had been trained in the World Cycling Center in Switzerland during the past several weeks.
Asked about when China will have its own professional Worldtour team, the UCI president said, "It could happen quicker than we imagine. We can expect something in five or six years."
According to McQuaid, the idea of Beijing Tour emerged during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and the race had been written in the 2009 UCI calendar, however, due to various ! reasons, it has been postponed until this year.
The Tour of Beijing is the first of its kind in Asia, the 2011 edition starts and finishes at Olympic Park and includes international tourism landmarks such as Tiananmen Square, the Bird' s Nest Stadium, Summer Palace, Great Wall and Ming Tomb Reservoir.
The 2011 tour of Beijing is the last stage race on the 2011 UCI WorldTour calendar, finishing six days before the final event of the season, the one-day Giro di Lombardia (Italy) on October 15th.
first stage of the inaugural Tour of Beijing cycling race in
Beijing, capital of China, on Oct. 5, 2011. Martin got the
first place in the first stage with 13 minutes 33 seconds.
(Xinhua/Gong Lei)
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