Hong Kong cycling star Ceci Lee in ‘race mode’ after high-intensity Australian camp, aiming for Asian boost in Olympic year

Ceci Lee Sze-wing says she is in “race mode” following a competitive Australian training camp, and anything other than gold medal performances at this week’s Asian Track Cycling Championships will qualify as “a loss”.

Anointed as Hong Kong “future main force” by former head coach Shen Jinkang, following her omnium bronze at the 2020 Asian championships, Lee is targeting an Olympic debut this year.

She placed 12th and 13th in the omnium and Madison, respectively, in this month’s UCI Track Nations Cup in Adelaide. But it was in spit-and-sawdust criterium races in Melbourne, where the packed fields included some of Australia’s best young male talent, that Lee got the most from a three-week team stay down under.

The overseas stint was the idea of acting head coach Herve Dagorne, who had used Melbourne, the only city in the world with two indoor velodromes, as a training getaway when in charge of the French team.

“We have never had that kind of experience, we competed every week and it helped us get in race mode,” Lee said.