Hong Kong’s Lau ‘feeling good’ for road race medal push despite crashing in time trial
Vincent Lau says wipe out cost him chance of podium spot in Zhuhai, but now ready to focus on 231.8km dash for gold
Vincent Lau Wan-yau said a crash that cost him the chance of a National Games time trial medal “sucked”, but he was “feeling good” ahead of a historic men’s road race on Saturday.
Lau claimed an Asian Games time trial bronze two years ago, but his hopes for a similar outcome in Zhuhai on Friday were dashed when he lost more than 30 seconds after tumbling on the slippery 38.7km (24 mile) course.
The 29-year-old finished sixth in 47 minutes and 41.03 seconds. His teammate Charles Ng Pak-hang was fourth in 46:43.98, 8.55 seconds behind bronze medallist Cao Houwang from Shandong.
Another Shandong rider, Miao Chengshuo, won gold in 46:17.32, with silver going to Tianjin’s Xue Ming in 46:27.93.
Lau, who is Hong Kong’s leading hope in a 231.8km road race that will visit Zhuhai, Hong Kong and Macau, said: “The overall feeling is good, I definitely had good legs after the training period, but it sucks to crash in the race when I was really close to the podium. Now I have to recover and focus on tomorrow.”
Herve Dagorne, the head coach, said that although Lau’s crash was “frustrating and disappointing because he was only 26 seconds from the podium”, the rider had delivered a performance that “made him realise how strong he was after all the work he’s done”.