Heyman Breaks Through At Roubaix and Feng Fails To Finish

For anyone who found a feed for yesterday's running of the Paris-Roubaix, they were treated to a classic of a classic. 

This year was billed as a sort of passing of the torch between the older generation of classics heroes with two of the most storied one-day specialists in Tom Boonen and Fabien Cancellara both healthy enough to go toe to toe on the cobbles after several years of one without the other as the foil, and the 26yo. Slovak, Peter Sagan seeking to build on his Flanders victory last week to affirm his ascendance.  This was to be Cancellara's last Paris-Roubaix and the great Yaroslav Popovych's last race. Everything seemed to be conspiring for this to be either the final hurrah for these old warriors or the heading of a new era. 

The thing about the Paris-Roubaix, is that it is never the type of race to lend itself to storybook endings. We had Boonen join an early chase group with Cancellara close behind. We had Sagan without teammates left to cobble together brittle alliances in the hopes of catching Boonen. As the pressure began to build with each section of cobbles beyond the crucible of the Arenberg Trench, tight, slippery, mud-caked corners took the legs out of the peloton, thinning the herd and bringing dreams of a victory at the velodrome in Roubaix down like a house of cards amid the brutal thud of tires over pave. 

Of the heavy favorites, Cancellara was the first to drop in a fall on the Monsen-Pevele sector-- the same sector the big Swiss had seen in a pre race premonition as the key to his race. Sadly, he was unable to recover and contend for the victory. He almost took out Sagan in the process, leaving Sagan to demonstrate his superior, but futile bike handling skills as the break out bunch led by the powerful Tony Martin, drove ahead to reel in a five-man break. When Boonen's group took to the front it looked like the battered Belgian 4x Paris Roubaix champion might finally, at age 35, surpass the famed Roger DeVlaemink, for a record fifth victory. It was so on.

As all eyes looked on, Boonen could not muster enough energy in the velodrome to beat out Mathew Haymen, the 37yo. Mathew Haymen from Orica-GreenEDGE. Meanwhile, Fabien Cancellara crashed on his farewell lap around the velodrome in a final gesture of appreciation to the fans. He may be reconsidering his retirement plans to redo that unceremonious farewell...or simply take it as a hint. 

So in the end... the Paris-Roubaix was won by one of the old men of the peloton... just not one of the old men everyone was guessing.

On the Taiwan angle of the Paris-Roubaix, our very own Feng Chun-kai of Lampre-Merida, was thrown into the fray once more by a team desperate to have a representative from the sponsor's home country. Feng, at 1.70m and 68kg, seems ill suited for these one-day races that are dominated by the big men who are often 10cm taller and 15kg heavier than Feng. Moreover, the terrain would be unfamiliar for a Taiwanese cyclist from a land of exquisite climbs, but few great stretches (any?) of unobstructed roadway with less than ideal pavement. Feng collected another DNF after getting caught in the rear group that failed to gain on the lead groups. Lamer-Merida collected their equipment and marched off for other events up the road where they have the personnel to better contend for prizes. Next for Feng will be next week at the Giro dell'Appennino.

A Match Made In Heaven...or Taichung: Taichung Bike Week and Eurobike Sitting in a Tree

Last month the increasingly obsolete Taipei Cycle groaned to a close-- a dinosaur of a show in an industry that has created more bottom bracket standards in the past ten years than I have changed flats. 

Taipei Cycle has been increasingly directed toward the retailers and the emerging markets with many of the major players sleepwalking into town for an expensed drink...if they even bother coming at all. 

The real action in the bicycle industry heats up during Taichung Bike Week in October, when industry managers converge on Taichung to finalize the specifications on the products and their prices that will be coming out the following year or two. As opposed to Taipei Cycle, Taichung Bike Week is entirely about looking into the future. 

With the current state of the bicycle industry when even the Giant mega-empire has lost a quarter of its value over the past year, getting a jump on manufacturing has become essential as it can allow brands to implement new technologies they hope will invigorate stagnating sales, or to nail down the production details (prices) for an extended model run for more than a single season. Production errors and unforeseen market problems in the past have led to far too much overhead failing to sell in the premium market with brands hoping to break even elsewhere in smaller markets past the model's expiration date. 

Taichung's central location plays an essential role in allowing 90% of the top OEMs to be within 40min. of the city. Representatives from the OEMs and brands can hustle off to iron out the details immediately following a presentation. 

One of the advantages of Taichung Bike Week is that it is a closed convention by invitation only, organized by industry volunteers for the industry without having to play ball with the local government or the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA). It also caters to Taiwanese OEMs and their supply chain, keeping the center fixed in Taiwan for the time being. 

This year Pro-Lite CEO, Steve Fenton, who also serves as the chief organizer of Taichung Bike Week, has reached out to Stefan Reisigner, a board member of Eurobike, to help with the organization and logistics of the event aimed at putting more brands in contact with their OEM counterparts more efficiently. Taichung Bike Week, which has often struggled with Taichung's limited exhibition space, has also procured space at the Lin Garden Hotel as a 4th location to host presentations and visitors.

Bicycle Retailer Reports: 

The seventh edition of  Taichung Bike Week will be Oct. 18-21 this year. Eurobike is working with TBW to provide attendees with a new "matchmaking tool."  The matchmaking tool will enable exhibitors and visitors to show off what they have to offer and what they are interested in before the event starts. Using their accounts, they will be able to make appointments and receive contact suggestions customized to fit their profile.

According to Fenton: 

It is all important that we use the 4^th location to bring in even more brands that need bigger space to present their ideas and products and the 4^th hotel will do this. The hotel is Called The Lin [Garden]and is about the same distance from Evergreen Hotel that Splendor is but in the opposite direction. It’s easy for us to arrange a shuttle bus every 30 minutes and as you know it’s never hard to get a taxi in Taiwan as they are everywhere. The location offers a huge amount of space for brands who need either large presentation rooms down to a small booth of say 3 x 3 mts. Best of all its got a huge space for the TBW party which we have struggled with over the last 2 years due to no space left in the three venues we use now. We decided to go ahead with a 4^th venue after asking many exhibitors about whether they feel we should talk to the City Government about using the exhibition centre they are building and the answer was a very clear no. As you know the event is run by the industry for the industry and we are a team of volunteers who do not get paid or take anything out of the event for free.

With the dual pressures of a dim forecast for the entire bicycle industry through 2018, and the rise of the direct sales model for branding online (the Canyon model), what happens in Taichung and how it happens only increases the importance Taichung Bike Week plays as the linchpin of the entire industry and possibly the most important week of the cycling calendar.  

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Also:

Don't miss the this Sunday's 2016 running of the Paris-Roubaix and Taiwan's Feng Chun-kai as he supports Lampre-Merida. Feng scored as DNF last year and also failed to finish last weekend's iconic Tour of Flanders.

The China Posts reports on an up and coming cyclist. 

               

Feng Chun-kai: Cycling's Orphan of Asia

As I followed the 2015 edition of the Paris-Roubaix cycling race, I kept an eye or for Team Lampre-Merida as they had sent Taiwan native, Feng Chun-kai, to help his team battle it out over the rough chiseled cobbles of the legendary cycling monument.

Luck wasn't about to crack a smile on Feng or his Lampre teammates as a crash after 100k essentially swept them from the competition. Team captain, Filippo Pozzato managed to scrounge a middling 65th place with his entire support crew decimated in the early action.

When asked about his historic appearance as the first Taiwanese to ride Paris-Roubaix, Feng had the following to say:

"This has been an outstanding experience for me and I'm very honoured to have received the opportunity to race the Paris-Roubaix," Feng explained. I learnt that in this race the most important things are experience, form and a little bit of luck. I'm not in top shape because of a contusion to my knee that I suffered in a crash in the Tour of Taiwan, I approached the early cobbled sectors in the rear part of the bunch and so I had to stop or to run in the fields in order to overtake the riders who had crashed.

"I could not achieve the goal of reaching Roubaix, but I'd like to take part in the race again in the future in a better form in order to try do obtain a better result. I learnt a lot from my team mates and the sport directors of the team."--Cycling Quotes

As I searched for the team results I noticed something that may very well be all too familiar to the Taiwanese athlete.

There was a complete inconsistency in how Feng was represented compared to his teammates, and this inconsistency provides a revealing look at the indignities faced by not only Taiwanese athletes, but Taiwanese in general, are faced with at the international level.

A few examples:

The first comes from the most popular website to provide information and coverage of the Paris-Roubaix. Feng's nationality is designated as "Chinese Taipei", or the abbreviation TPE. He is not provided with a national flag. This may simply be due to the oversight of the webmaster or Feng's late addition to the P-R squad. Portugal's Nelson Oliveira is also missing his basic information. There may have been some confusion as to which flag to use. The designator of Chinese Taipei was a concession made to placate China when Taiwan sought to resume its participation in the Olympic Games. Of course, Taiwan is NOT Chinese and Taipei is merely a metropolitan area within Taiwan.



The next example comes from the Paris-Rubaix results page from Pro Cycling Stats. For Feng's designator of nationality they use the flag of the Republic of China (Taiwan). This is consistent with the flag that is commonly used for Taiwan. The flag is really that of the Republic of China, which was a state founded in China in 1912, during Taiwan's 17th year as a Japanese colony. When the R.O.C. government representatives arrived in Taiwan following Japan's surrender in WWII, they brought with them the R.O.C. flag and four years later the R.O.C. government arrived wholesale. Japan retained legal sovereignty over Taiwan until 1951, when, under the Treaty of Peace between Japan and the Allies, Japan relinquished its sovereignty over Taiwan, but failed to transfer sovereignty to another state. The matter remains, legally, unresolved.

In the meantime, the R.O.C. government under the Kuomintang (KMT) authoritarian one-party-state, attempted to represent Taiwan as either Free China, Chinese Formosa, or The Republic of China on Taiwan as the KMT unsuccessfully attempted to claim representation over the whole of China. The R.O.C.'s/KMT's symbols and ideology were promoted by KMT party officialdom as representative of Taiwan while the majority of Taiwanese were denied any voice in their own representation.

Since the end of martial law in 1988, many of the symbols of the KMT party state have been reconfigured to represent Taiwan and ONLY Taiwan. The R.O.C. flag is one of these symbols.



In the results posted by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) The official governing body of professional bicycle racing, a private organization that administers and oversees (or chooses not to oversee) international bicycle competiton and regulation as all as informing the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on the format standardized competition, Feng is listed again as TPE or "Chinese Taipei". This makes sense as the UCI is trying to conform to the IOC guidelines for Taiwan's participation in the Olympic Games. It may not be ideal, but it is the title Taiwan's government has agreed to use for its participation.

According to the UCI Constitution:

Article 3
The UCI will carry out its activities in compliance with the principles of:
a) equality between all the members and all the athletes, licence-holders and officials, without racial, political, religious, or other discrimination;b) non-interference in the internal affairs of affiliated federations;c) compliance with the Olympic Charter in everything to do with the participation of cyclists in the Olympic Games;
d) the non-profit-making purpose: the financial resources shall be used only to pursue the purposes set forth in this Constitution. UCI members have no rights thereto. 

Lastly, from the report posted by Cycling News, a widely read cycling news translation and link website, we see Feng has become Chinese. Is this intentional pressure? Is this the result of sloppy or ignorant reporting? We will probably never really know. I wrote to the media group responsible for the website for a clarification, but have yet to receive a reply.


It is hard to entirely blame the international media for the laziness or confusion as Taiwan's international access was controlled by KMT party apparatchiks for decades with the propagandist aim of convincing the world to nuke the Chinese and return the KMT to power. These were not dreams shared by most Taiwanese, but rather the view of a tiny minority at the very top of a Leninist party state.

The result has been a confused message both internationally and domestically in Taiwan where Taiwanese have been both encouraged and discouraged from showing support for their athletes and how that support is shown.

Taiwan Matters has an old post with a great collection of official reactions and commentary of Taiwan's display of the ROC flag.

Every major poll shows most Taiwanese people identify themselves as exclusively Taiwanese. With young people who did not grow up under martial law the phenomenon is even more pronounced. A recent poll put the figure for an exclusive Taiwanese identity at 90%.

It is about time Taiwan's athletes receive the same dignity as other competitors. If we return to Article 3a. in the UCI Constitution

a) equality between all the members and all the athletes, licence-holders and officials, without racial, political, religious, or other discrimination;

It raises questions whether the current formula for Taiwan's participation respects this clause.

It is apparent from the press releases from Feng's Lampre-Merida team (with Merida being a Taiwan based sponsor) that Feng is clearly claimed by Taiwan. 

Team LAMPRE-MERIDA is once again proud to be pioneer in the expansion of the cycling boundary, considering that it has signed the first Taiwanese rider ever in its hostory: in 2015, Chun Kai Fei will be the first Taiwanese to take part in the World Tour circuit.
Born in 1988 in Qing’an Village, Feng is very popular in Taiwan, a Country whose cycling industry is at the top of thw world production.
Thanks to the cycling successes he achieved, Feng is the leading figure of the Taiwanese cycling movement: in 2007, when he was very young, he became Asian champion of the points race on track; in 2010 he became pro, collecting during his career three national road title (2010-2011-2013), one national time trial title (2013), one stage in Tour of Thailand in 2012 and the gold medal in the 10 km scratch.
The deal for the passage of Chun Kai Feng in the blue-fuchsia-green team has been made official in a press conference in Taiwan, where the rider was introduced by William Jeng, Merida Bikes company’s senior vice president.
LAMPRE-MERIDA decided to give this opportunity of improvement to an athlete that is considered to be ready to face the challenge of the elite of cycling, endorsing the Asian cycling movement that in the next years will become more and more important for the cycling world.
“We consider Chun Kai Feng owns the skills and the fighting spirit to demonstrate that the Taiwanese cycling has come to a level that gives the opportunity to his leading figure to debut in the World Tour – team manager Copeland explained – The first part of the season will be important for him for getting settled and to adapt himself to the language and the European culture: our team’s members are very warm and accepting people, so Feng will have no problem in receiving the necessary support by everybody in the team, especially by the most experienced cyclists.During the first half of the year we’ll complete the evaluation of his skills and we’ll give him the support for what concerns the training programs, aiming to set a race planning that will give Feng the opportunity to exploit in the best way his qualities during the second part of the season“  

The math is really simple... Taiwan is Taiwan.  

Taiwanese Cyclist To Conquer The Cobbles: Feng Chun-kai and Lampre Merida in 2015 Paris Roubaix

There are few Asian cyclists who have managed to crack the professional peloton in either the cycling monuments or the grand tours. Fumiyukei Beppu from Japan has enjoyed some recognition for being the rare Asian face in a sport dominated by Europeans. We have seen China's Ji Cheng in some recent grand tours, but now Taiwan has its first representative in the Queen of the Classics. Feng Chun-kai will take on the Paris-Roubaix.

Feng has made a name for himself for picking apart the competition in the 2011 International Cycling Classic and has been a dominant force on the Asian continental circuit. This year the native of Miaoli, was picked up by the troubled Lampre-Merida cycling team as it attempts to reboot and recover from some sponsorship trouble.

Feng will likely ride in support of his team captain, but it will be great to see him out there in the grit on one of the most celebrated routes in cycling history.

Tune in Sunday, April 12 at 6:30pm. You can snag a feed here.