WONG Kam-po hopes to cash in on the benefit of recent altitude training on the plateaus in Yunnan by being the first Hong Kong rider to achieve a top-three finish in the gruelling Tour de Taiwan series starting on Saturday.
Wong and national squad teammates Chong Dat-wai and Tse Wing-man spent almost two months in Kunming under the supervision of Chinese coach Shen Jinkang to prepare for the nine-day tour and the Asian Championships in April.
'I'm very excited with the Taiwan tour because it will be my first test following this experimental highland training,' said Wong, who narrowly missed an Asian Games medals in Hiroshima.
'I'm looking for a good overall result on the Taiwan tour but coach Shen Jinkang expects us to reach our peak in the latter part of the series.' Wong, Chong and Tse will be joined by veteran international Hui Chak-bor and Chan Lung in the Taiwan-bound Hong Kong squad, but they will be up against stiff opposition from 33 other teams from all parts of the world.
Kazakhstan won the team championship last year.