bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Chan Kin-wa

For most cyclists, competing in road bike tours in Europe is the pinnacle of the sport.
Former Hong Kong team member Yeung Ying-hon is closing in on that dream.
When he quit the national team, aged 25, last year it was believed his cycling career was over.
But his retirement was short-lived, and his ambition to compete in top-tier events is closer to reality than ever.

	I am sure there is a long career in front of me before I can fulfil my targets in cycling

	Yeung Ying-hon
Yeung now rides for a Singapore-based professional road race team, OCBC (Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation).
Last month, he finished third in the general classification in the five-stage Tour of Algeria; he then won a stage in the Tour International de Setif, in the same country; and at the Circuit International d'Alger, a 106-kilometre one-day race, he was second.
Enjoying a break in Hong Kong after returning from North Africa, he reflects on the turnaround in his sporting career and spells out his new ambition.
"I had grown up in the set-up of the Hong Kong team since I started the sport, and it was a new experience for me to ride in a professional team," Yeung said.
"I am still learning, but I treasure the opportunity as most of the Hong Kong riders do not have a chance to ride for [themselves], but most of the time for the Bauhinia flag.
"I hope this unique experience can help me grow to become a top rider in Asia before I can move to Europe to compete against the world's best.

"Most of the world's top riders ride for professional teams, and if they are good enough they will be selected by their countries for major competitions such as the Olympic Games or World Championships.
"I hope I can follow in the same footsteps."
While in many sports an athlete is considered a veteran at 30, cyclists generally have a longer career span and many do not hit their straps until well into their fourth decade.
"I am sure there is a long career in front of me before I can fulfil my targets in cycling," Yeung said.
"My team is taking care of me very well and I believe my full potential can be realised."
OCBC (which recently agreed to pay some US$5 billion to acquire Hong Kong's own Wing Hang Bank) is one of the largest banks in Singapore and set up the first professional cycling team there in 2011.

	Many Hong Kong riders also have the potential for the World Tour teams, but the opportunities are always limited

	Yeung Ying-hon
Only a Continental team under International Cycling Union (UCI) classification and therefore in the sport's third tier - ProTeams rank highest, followed by Pro Continental - OCBC did produce a rider who recently joined Giant-Shimano, a Dutch ProTeam.
Loh Sea Keong, a 27-year-old Malaysian who rode for OCBC in 2012-13, has now taken part in several top European events this season, becoming the first rider from Southeast Asia to race for a team at the top level.
"Singapore is not very strong in cycling, but the sport is very popular [there]," said Yeung. "They are very keen to promote cycling, including hosting a night race, just as they are doing for Formula One motor racing.
"OCBC is a generous sponsor and always tries to get the best riders from the region. When the team was established in 2011, they invited me but at that time I was still enjoying riding for the Hong Kong team and turned them down.

"After pulling out of the Hong Kong team last April, I thought I would never go back to the sport. In fact, I was working in my father's restaurant as a clerk before OCBC made an offer again, four months after I quit. After some thought, I had no hesitation in accepting it."
Yeung now wants to ride for a top-tier team and compete in Europe.
Other than Loh, only a small number of Asians currently do so. They include two mainlanders - Ji Cheng and Xu Gang, who ride for Giant-Shimano and Lampre-Merida respectively - and two Japanese riders, Fumiyuki Beppu (Trek Factory Racing) and Yukiya Arashiro (Team Europcar).
Xu, from Shanghai, is no stranger to Hong Kong riders, with whom he has shared a mentor figure - Hong Kong head coach Shen Jinkang was formerly head of the Shanghai team.
He took part in his first world tour race at the Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco in Spain earlier this month, finishing 110th out of 115 riders.

Ji is the first mainlander to ride in one of the grand tours - the 2012 Vuelta a Espana, which was followed by the 2013 Giro d'Italia, where he pulled out after five stages.
Arashiro has had the best results among this group of Asian riders, competing in several World Tour events and always finishing in the top half.
"There is still a big gap between Asian riders and the world standard, but we have to work towards this target or we will never improve," said Yeung.
"Many Hong Kong riders also have the potential for the World Tour teams, but the opportunities are always limited."
Having first joined the Talent Identification Programme at the Sports Institute in 2004, Yeung began training full-time two years later and gradually came through the ranks.

At the 2009 East Asian Games - which Hong Kong hosted - he won a silver medal in the men's individual road race.
A year later, he took the opening stage at the Tour de Korea, one of the biggest tours in Asia, and kept the race's yellow jersey for the next five stages before surrendering it. At the 2011 Tour of East Java, he finished second overall in the general classification, losing out to Hossein Jahanbanian from the powerful Tabriz Petrochemical team of Iran.
Yeung was also a member of the men's track pursuit team that bagged a silver medal for Hong Kong at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, a result that helped him secure the highest elite training grant of HK$26,000 per month for the next two years. The funding petered out due to a lack of results and by last year it was half of what it had been.
But Yeung said that was not his main reason for leaving the Hong Kong team.
"I enjoy racing in tours more, but the main target of the Hong Kong team was major games or regional championships," he says. "Also, there were more and more competitions on the track and I lack the muscle power to sprint in the velodrome [Yeung's bodyweight is around 53kg].
"There were also personal problems that meant I found it difficult to stay in the Hong Kong team. But all this is history now and I am looking forward to a new page in my cycling career."
Hong Kong Cycling Association chairman Leung Hung-tak said the body was sorry that Yeung quit the team last year. "He made his own decision to leave, but if he wants to come back, and provided he is still at a competitive level, we would definitely consider it."
Riding for a professional team, Leung admits, demands more self-discipline as there are no coaches like Shen tightly monitoring his progress.
"I am more or less on my own now and have to devise my training programmes and schedules so that I can stay fit, physically and mentally, in order to prepare for races."
"[But] I am lucky to have a team manager who is also a qualified coach, who can always give me advice on my training programme.
"It's not easy, but I want to give it a try and hopefully I can open another path for Hong Kong riders who want to develop their careers in professional cycling."


Wheels turning on a dream

Yeung Ying-hon is fired up to become a professional rider on the European circuit. Photo: David Wong

Yeung Ying-hon says Asian riders have to work hard to try to close the gap on the world's best. Photo: David Wong

Yeung Ying-hon (left) with Wong Kam-po during the Hong Kong Cycling Championship at Brides Pool Road, Tai Mei Tuk, in June 2012. Photo: K. Y. Cheng 

Chinese cyclist Ji Cheng of the Argos-Shimano team at Piazza del Plebiscito in Naples. Cheng was the first Chinese rider in the history of the Giro d'Italia. Photo: EPA

Yeung Ying-hon (silver), Tang Wang-yip (gold) and Kwok Ho-ting (bronze) after completing the 137km road race in the 5th East Asian Games in 2009. Photo: K.Y. Cheng

Sport

Hong Kong

Hong Kong rider Yeung Ying-hon came out of a short-lived retirement and has fired up an ambition to eventually compete against the best in Europe


Wheels turning on a dream

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Hong Kong rider Yeung Ying-hon came out of a short-lived retirement and has fired up an ambition to eventually compete against the best in Europe

Hong Kong rider Yeung Ying-hon came out of a short-lived retirement and has fired up an ambition to eventually compete against the best in Europe