Hong Kong cycling star Chloe Leung’s ‘mental gains’ spark Olympic Games belief
Increasingly consistent 29-year-old aiming for world tour recognition following Asian Championships golden breakthrough
It is a measure of her renewed self-belief that Chloe Leung Wing-yee returned home from claiming two Asian Road Cycling Championships medals stalked by a feeling of what might have been.
Leung acknowledged her time trial silver could have been gold, while she vowed to never repeat the lapse that scuppered the city squad’s women’s road race medal chances.
Still, the overriding picture from the 29-year-old’s week in Saudi Arabia is of a cyclist riding towards the elevated targets that tactical and psychological improvements have allowed her to consider possible. As an instrumental figure in the team that deposed Kazakhstan as continental mixed relay time trial champions, Leung celebrated “one of the best achievements of my career”.
“I used to think I wasn’t capable, but Herve [Dagorne, head coach] always told me my time would come,” said Leung, who will next compete in the Perth UCI Track World Cup leg from March 6.
“That is the dream for every cyclist, I want to do it,” Leung said.