Introducing China Games time trial champion Shi Hang

 Introducing China Games time trial champion  Shi Hang

Shi  Hang of Giant Cycling Team completed stage 1 of the Tour of Hainan in  114^th position at the back of the pack while his team-mate Chen  Zhiwen crossed the line in 22^nd place and became the best Asian  rider. He warned before the race that he was there to help his team-mates. But  Shi attracts attention since he won the individual time trial at the China Games  in his hometown of Tianjin on September 6.

Shi  said it took him four years to prepare for the China Games but he’s only 19 year  old and four years ago is about the time he joined the Tianjin Cycling Club and  started to ride his bike on fairly long distances. “Especially the last two  years, I’ve been very busy training for the China Games but I went to the race  with no stress and no goal really”, he explained. “I wasn’t pushed for being the  champion. I had no ambition to be the champion but just do my best. I knew I  could do well in the time trial, having finished first and third in the China  national championship for Elite riders before. I was very surprised to become  the champion [ahead of Hong Kong’s Cheung King Lok who rides for WorldTour  giants Orica-Scott] but now I know my potential and my abilities.”

Shi  said he love bicycles on first sight. He hails from the rural area of Ning He  near Tianjin. His parents don’t have any history in sport but bought him “a lot  of bikes”, he said. He remembers finishing 29^th out of more than 100  participants in his first race, the Tour of Tuanbo Lake, where his talent was  scouted. At the age of 16, he started training seriously under coach Zhang Jian  Lin. Now he follows the advice of Song Guo Qiang from Shanghai based continental  team Giant.

“I  knew nothing of professional cycling until I joined the Tianjin Cycling Team and  my team-mates made me watch the Tour de France, the Giro and La Vuelta”, he  said. “I had no clue of what these races were like but I found them very  spectacular. Last year I watched the Tour on LeTV and this year on QQ. My  favorite riders are Tony Martin and Peter Sagan. Tony Martin inspired me for  time trialing but now I want to improve my cycling in other aspects and I hope  to become kind of a Peter Sagan.”

With Giant, he took part in his first  international race with Le Tour de Langkawi in Malaysia in February this year.  “The Tour of Hainan is my fifth stage race this year”, he added. “If I get a  chance, I’d like to join a high leveled team but I’m yet to understand what  future I can have in  cycling.”