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Paul McNamara

Ceci Lee Sze-wing staked a claim for Olympic road race selection after retaining her National Road Championships title on Sunday, but doubts remain over her frame of mind weeks before the Games begin in Paris.
Hong Kong’s leading female cyclist, Lee is low on form and confidence in the omnium track discipline she is expected to tackle at her debut Games next month.
And Lee said she was “tired and not in the shape I want” after fending off second-placed Guardiola Cheung Lee-tong, and Leung Wing-yee in third for her second Hong Kong crown in Tin Shui Wai.
The 23-year-old nevertheless said she wanted to race over the 158km course in the French capital, as well as her omnium commitments.
“Road racing is the base of cycling, most track cyclists begin in road cycling, and keep [competing] in it,” Lee said. “I want to do the same. My condition is not good now, I am tired after so many races, and there has not been enough time for training.”

But Lee, who has been struggling mentally on the track this year, said she trusted head coach Herve Dagorne to “have us in the best shape for the Olympics”.
After the UCI Track Nations Cup in Hong Kong in March, where Lee finished 12th in the omnium, Dagorne said his rider had been “petrified … worrying about doing something wrong”, and added that “psychological and technical gaps” separated Lee from the elite competitors.
Dagorne has little say in Olympic selection, which is in the hands of the local cycling association, but would support Lee being chosen for the road race given her issues on the track remain unresolved.
“I don’t interfere in selection, but … for sure, I want Ceci to focus on the road race,” Dagorne said. “She still has to work on her strategy for the omnium. There has been no progress on the mistakes we talked about four months ago.”
Lee finished eighth on the road at last year’s Asian Games, in a race won by her now retired compatriot Yang Qianyu. She claimed two silver medals, and one bronze in the velodrome.
Unlike in Hangzhou, the Olympics road races will happen before the track action, although the flipped schedule did not concern either Lee or Dagorne.
Lee showed her potential when finishing eighth at this month’s Asian Road Cycling Championships in Kazakhstan. She led with 2km remaining, but slipped back as South Korea’s Song Min-ji won gold.

“She is like a striker who loses confidence when they get in front of the goal,” Dagorne said. “She was one of the fastest in that leading group [in Kazakhstan], the last sprint corner was tricky, and the Korean went the shortest route. Ceci could have done that and she would have been champion. She knows it, currently she is very frustrated.”
Leung, who finished fourth in the time trial in Kazakhstan, and was two places behind Lee over Sunday’s 56km route, is also vying for Hong Kong’s lone women’s road race berth.
“Some of her training times are faster than the men, she would have a chance of doing well at the Olympics,” Dagorne said. “She is constantly making progress, so it is very encouraging for the future.”
Vincent Lau Wan-yau is in pole position for the men’s road racing spot. The 27-year-old won Asian Games road race bronze last year, and was fifth in the time trial at the recent championships in Kazakhstan.
He climbed off his sickbed to trail home ninth in Sunday’s domestic competition, but had no fears over his Paris chances being scuppered.
The 120km race was won by Mow Ching-yin, 29, the runner-up in 2016 and 2023.
“It is my first time winning the Hong Kong championships, so I am very happy,” Mow said. “There were really good riders in the field, but I was confident in my strategy. I attacked in the last kilometre, and it worked. I have won an Asian championship scratch race [in 2019], but this is quite a good feeling, too.”


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.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Leung Wing-yee vying with Ceci Lee for women’s road race berth, Vincent Lau Wan-yau set for Paris nod in men’s competition

Leung Wing-yee vying with Ceci Lee for women’s road race berth, Vincent Lau Wan-yau set for Paris nod in men’s competition