Hong Kong cycling’s secret weapon in Ceci Lee National Games golden quest
Head coach Herve Dagorne set to lean on the experience and intelligence of Yang Qianyu, as city team plot sprint finale
Herve Dagorne has backed Yang Qianyu to rein in the provincial rivals who may try to upset Ceci Lee Sze-wing’s pursuit of a second straight National Games cycling road race title.
Yang reneged on her retirement plans after initially quitting the sport following her 2023 Asian Games road race gold.
Plagued by a back problem since her return to competition, the 32-year-old, also a National Games champion on the track in 2017, has had her recent workload carefully managed by Dagorne.
“Her target now is to help Ceci, we haven’t asked that of her, but it’s what she wants to do,” Dagorne said.
On a flat Zhuhai course, Hong Kong plan to engineer the sprint finish that would allow 24-year-old Lee to capitalise on her explosive pace.
“It’s going to be a difficult race to manage, the provinces know who won last time and they’ll reduce our windows of opportunity,” Dagorne said. “The provinces without strong sprinters will be launching non-stop attacks.