Mitchelton-SCOTT was established in Yangpu, Shanghai on March 9. It registered with UCI and the Chinese Cycling Association and is operated by world-class professional cycling team Green Edge to improve the road race cycling skills of Chinese cyclists and the professionalization of the sport.
Members of the fleet include Liu Hao, Bi Wenhui, Qin Chenglu, Xue Chaohua and other two Chinese cyclists as well as six Australian cyclists. The choice of Yangpu as their training location is based on its economic strength and attention to sports.
Shayne Bannan, general manager of the Green Edge, told us that this young Chinese cycling team will participate in championships mostly in China and other Asian countries and occasionally in Europe. The fleet will accommodate Chinese cyclists’ plan of participating in the National Games of the PRC in Tianjing and will compete in most events held in China in May, October, and November in 2017. Some Chinese cyclists will probably participate in short-term competition in Europe with their Australian team. Chinese members will receive more training and participate in more championships in Europe starting from 2018.
The Orica-Green Edge was established in 2011 as the first top UCI road race team in Australia. It has won many first places and polka dot jerseys and secured the eighth place in the ranking of world top 18 professional teams in 2016.
In his speech, Shayne described the cooperation as “partnership” and remarked that Green Edge will help this young team in areas of training methods, nutrition, cultural awareness and competition strategies by drawing on its experience in order to enhance the training of Chinese members and improve their professional skills.
Gerry Ryan, owner of Green Edge, told us that one of their goals is to help the Chinese team win the eligibility of participating in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. He said, “Having achieved tremendous success in international tournaments and other major championships in the past few years, we are in a good position to help the development of the Chinese cyclists.”
Both Shayne and Gerry mentioned the contribution Shen Jinkang, the chief coach of Hong Kong team, has made in helping the establishment of this team. When he was the chief coach of Chinese team, Shen got to know Shayne who was the coach of the national team of Australia, and they became good friends in the trainings. 30 years later, they cooperated to promote the development of the cycling in China and Australia. Shen told us, “The success in international tournaments is only part of the achievement of the Green Edge. This team consisting of cyclists all from Australian national team can provide good resources for the Chinese team in learning training model and expertise.”
