Taiwan’s Cycling King of the Mountains Challenge kicks off today. Amateur cyclist Fan Yongyi said that to achieve good results in this race, he has been preparing for a full year.

The “Taiwan Cycling King of the Mountains Challenge” will inaugurate the 2013 Taiwan Cycling Festival. The event features numerous international elite riders, while local competitors include last year’s national champion Wang Yin-zhi and top Taiwanese cyclist Feng Jun-kai, who share the responsibility of keeping the title in Taiwan. Additionally, amateur cyclist Fan Yongyi, who won back-to-back championships in 2010 and 2011, is sharp and ready to seize the title again.

Fan Yongyi said he has been preparing since the beginning of the year, training step by step. In June, when he competed in Japan, his condition peaked. After a short period of rest, his form has recently reached optimal level again. A whole year of preparation is all for aiming to achieve the best results in this race.

Fan Yongyi said that in all competitions, people only remember the winners who take the championship. Since he started cycling in 2003, his results have consistently been between third and fifth place—seemingly stable—but he was always a “supporting role” type of rider. It wasn’t until he won back-to-back championships in 2010 that people began to notice him, transforming him into a “leading role” type of rider.

Fan Yongyi also said emotionally that because of this, he regards this race as one that changed his life. So no matter whether he can maintain intense training in the future, as long as this event is held, he will keep participating.

The race starts today from Qixingtan in Hualien, near sea level (close to 0 meters), passing through Taroko, the Central Cross-Island Highway, and climbing all the way up to Hehuan Mountain’s Wuling—the highest point on Taiwan’s roads at 3,275 meters above sea level—covering a total distance of 105 kilometers.

This highly challenging event has attracted 440 cyclists from 28 countries, including Japan, the United States, Australia, Canada, Denmark, and Italy.

Among the riders, in addition to 2012 champion Danish cyclist John Ebsen, who will seek to defend his title, other contenders for the win include Australian Simon Clarke, the King of the Mountains in the 2012 Vuelta a España, and Canadian Cory Wallace, the champion of the 2012 and 2013 Mongol Rally.

(CNA)