The two-day "Good Luck Beijing" 2007 International Road Cycling Invitational Race fell its curtain on the afternoon of August 19 at the beautiful Juyongguan Great Wall. Due to the long course and fast competition rhythm of the race whose organization work involved various problems such as security, transportation and environment, the rehearsal is of great importance to the Olympic Games. The success of the race undoubtedly accumulated rich experience for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
Australia, Italy and Kazakhstan share medals
The International Road Cycling Invitational Race simply included the events of men’s mass start road race and men's individual time trial, in which racers fought for two golds, two silvers and two bronzes. A total of 122 (173 on a person-time basis) racers from 18 teams from the five continents participated in the race.
In the men's mass start race on August 18, the Italian racer Gabriele Bosisio won the title with a result of four hours 27 minutes 14 seconds. The Kazakhstani racer Alexandr Dyachenko and another Italian racer Vincenzo Nibali finished second and third respectively.
In the men's time trial on August 19, the Australian racer Cadel Evans won the title with a result of 32 minutes 28.92 seconds. As the runner-up of the Tour de France this year, Cadel Evans was not in good form and finished fifth only in the mass start road race yesterday, but he did not fall short of people's expectations to win the title by an overwhelming lead of 24.74 second over the second placer today. Another Australian racer Michael Rogers and Alexandr Dyachenko from Kazakhstan finished second and third respectively. Interestingly, Alexandr Dyachenko had just won one silver in the mass start road race yesterday, who thus became the sole racer winning medals in both two events of the race.
Remarkably, the strong Australian team saved their strength with a best result of fifth place in the mass start road race yesterday, but in the individual time trial today, they spared no efforts so as to achieve a good result of one gold and one silver and rank first in the total result by their steady performance in the past two days. Eventually, Australia, Italy and Kazakhstan won the top three places in the medal table of the race with one gold and one silver, one gold and one bronze, and one silver and one bronze respectively. Thus, the six medals of the race were dramatically shared by three countries.
Beautiful course receives frequent praise
The course of "Good Luck Beijing" 2007 International Road Cycling Invitational Race is exactly that of the road cycling event at the Beijing Olympic Games. The group course with a full length of 174km runs past eight famous scenic spots through Beijing's eight downtowns. In the competition, the racers shuttled between the Badaling Great Wall and the Juyongguan Great Wall, enjoying good views of the famous Great Wall and other scenic spots all the way along the course. Thus, reporters believed that it was by no means exaggerated to honor the course of the road cycling event of the Beijing Olympic Games as one of the most beautiful courses in the Olympic history.
The racers started from Yongdingmen, one of Beijing's most famous scenic spots, by way of such famous scenic spots as the Temple of Heaven, Tian’anmen Square, Lama Temple, Temple of Earth Park, the Beijing Olympic Tower and the Summer Place, and entered the suburban stage via Badaling Highway. The length between the start point and Juyongguan is 78.8km, the racers started taking four circles from Juyongguan and reached the finish point. The single-circle length and total length of this stage are 23.8km and 95.2km respectively, including the ascending and descending sections. The lowest and highest elevation of the course was 40.179m and 650.85m respectively.
As the champion of the race, the Australian racer Cadel Evans also spoke highly of the organization work of the race, "The course is really beautiful and the competition organization was systematical, especially the security measures."
Joop Atsma, member of the executive committee and president of road cycling committee of UCI, said, "It is not easy to cover so many sights throughout the course, a lot of racers marveled at the beautiful landscape ceaselessly. High as the gradient is, it is not a problem for experienced racers."
Organization acknowledged
"Just as the course was satisfactory, the organization of the race was also excellent." After the race, Joop Atsma fully acknowledged the competition organization.
Also, Atsma said, "When I just arrived in Beijing, I learned from a newspaper that Beijing had taken some traffic measures to keep over one million cars away from the course each day. As a result, the race benefited from those measures a lot and progressed smoothly. I do hope Beijing's citizens can understand us and I would like to thank them for everything they have done. Besides, I saw a lot of Beijing's citizens watch the first-day group competition along the course giving warm applauses to racers, which impressed me a lot."
To reduce the flow of motor vehicles and clear the road for the smooth progress of the race, Beijing exercised the system of single & double numbers for motor vehicles during the race. Beijing's citizens gave great support to that. From August 17, the number of the motor vehicles going on the road reduced enormously to make the road clearer. Regarding that, Sun Kanglin, deputy secretary-general of Beijing Municipal Government, director of Beijing Administration of Sports and chairman of the organization committee of the race, said, "Beijing made great efforts for the smooth progress of the race. We achieved our goal and were much moved all the way, the favorable result was ascribable to the common support of the entire city and the concerted efforts of all social circles."
Full confidence in 2008 Olympics
Regarding the success of the race, Sun expressed in an interview, "This is a rehearsal of the 2008 Olympic Games and is of great importance."
"We had made extremely meticulous and considerate arrangements before the race to ensure absence of problems in all links." Sun pointed out, "Beijing made great efforts for the smooth progress of the race. We achieved our goal and were much moved all the way, the favorable result was ascribable to the common support of the entire city and the concerted efforts of all social circles."
In conclusion, Sun noted, "The progress of the race as scheduled accumulated precious and rich experience for us in preparation for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and made us feel assured to hold a successful Olympic Games. We have full confidence in the Olympic Games next years!" |
