Taipei, June 11 (CNA) Taiwanese road cyclist Tu Chih-hao (杜志濠) won a silver medal in the Men Elite's Individual Time Trial at the Asian Road Cycling Championships 2023 in Thailand Saturday.
The 26-year-old Tu completed two laps of the 23-kilometer course with an average speed of 49.76 km per hour to finish runner-up in the 19-man event in Rayong with a time of 55 minutes and 25.722 seconds, behind Yevgeniy Fedorov from Kazakhstan.
Fedorov, who won the U23 men's road race world title in Australia in 2022, clocked 53 minutes and 28.423 seconds and an average speed of 51.62 kph, winning back-to-back titles in the annual Asian tournament.
The silver medal also earned Tu a slot in the upcoming Hangzhou Asian Games, which is to be held in China from September to October.
"I'm definitely happy to clinch a berth in the Asian Games, but you always want to win as an athlete," Tu said in a statement released by Original Sports Marketing on Saturday.
"The gold medalist performed very well in Europe, too, so I have nothing to say about losing to him, but I want to get my revenge at the Asian Games," Tu added.
In addition to thanking his family and Team Taiwan staffers for their support, Tu said he prepared for the Asian championships differently with the help of Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) WorldTeam coach Andrea Fusaz, a resource he did not have before joining Team Bahrain Victorious in 2022.
Instead of focusing on the full route simulation, Fusaz told Tu to divide the route into several sections and focus on each one individually.
Trusting his coach, Tu said he was delighted that the time trial proved their training approach to be highly effective as he kept surpassing his limit. "Looking back now, there was nothing I could have done better," Tu was quoted as saying in the statement.
The Dominica-born Tu, also known as Sergio, was exposed to road racing at the age of 13 and became the second Taiwanese cyclist at a UCI WorldTeam after signing a two-year contract with Team Bahrain Victorious last year.
