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South China Morning Post
27-02-2025
- Sport
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong coach tells cyclists to embrace extreme pain or forget major title ambitions
Hong Kong's cyclists must increase their pain thresholds to have any chance of competing for major titles, said head coach Hervé Dagorne. Advertisement The city team won six senior and four junior medals from this month's Asian Track Championships, but Dagorne said his riders would have won more than their one gold had they been prepared to 'go right to the limit'. The gold came for Ceci Lee Sze-wing, in Sunday's scratch race, but Dagorne said the 23-year-old had only herself to blame for not adding a second on Wednesday, after she blew a significant lead to finish second to Mizuki Ikeda in the omnium. 'They all say they did their best, but I don't see any of them vomiting from the effort, or needing to be carried off the track,' Dagorne said. 'I'm not saying they don't go deep into [feeling] pain, but they don't go far enough. 'Our brain has limit alerts telling us to stop when we feel pain. You need to trick your brain, so you create the ability to go deeper. If you feel happy with a silver medal, you won't hurt your body to try for gold. It's down to how much you want it, and never surrendering until the last.' Ceci Lee with her omnium silver medal, which her coach could easily have been a gold. Photo: CAHKC Dagorne, who competed in two Olympics for his native France, said his riders were showing considerable power during intense exercise.
South China Morning Post
23-02-2025
- Sport
- South China Morning Post
Victoria Pendleton says Hong Kong star's Olympic pain can be ‘greatest asset'
Published: 12:00pm, 23 Feb 2025 Ex-world champion cyclist Victoria Pendleton said Ceci Lee Sze-wing's Paris Olympics pain could be the Hong Kong track star's 'greatest asset' over the rest of her career. Wracked with self-doubt when she went to her first Olympics, aged 23, Pendleton was overwhelmed by the magnitude of the event and finished 10th in her sprint race. On returning home, she put her Great Britain kit in bin bags and threatened to retire. Lee was also 23 when she froze in the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome last summer, finishing 20th out of 22 omnium competitors on her Olympic debut. She subsequently recounted an 'intense and unhappy' experience, believing she had let down head coach Herve Dagorne, and was 'sorry for those who helped me'. Ceci Lee with the Asian Track Championships elimination race silver medal she won on Saturday. Photo: CAHKC Pendleton told the Post her own disappointment left her feeling as though she should 'do them all a favour and quit'.
South China Morning Post
08-02-2025
- Sport
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong cyclists ‘go back to school', then beat China for Asian relay medal
Herve Dagorne said Hong Kong's cyclists had benefited from 'going back to school' over their winter Australian camp, after they claimed team time trial mixed relay bronze at the Asian Road Championships in Thailand. Vincent Lau Wan-yau, Mow Ching-yin, Ng Pak-hang, Ceci Lee Sze-wing, Chloe Leung Wing-yee and Yang Qianyu combined to comfortably beat China to a place on the podium. Kazakhstan and Japan finished 19 and five seconds ahead of Hong Kong, respectively, and head coach Dagorne said he 'felt we could get gold', as the female trio of Lee, Leung and Yang chased down their rivals towards the end. After going to the 10-day championships in Phitsanulok with a two-medal target, Hong Kong are well set, with Dagorne expecting both Lau and Leung to fight for individual time trial honours. The city squad spent six weeks training and racing in Australia, before returning to Hong Kong on January 28. Riders and staff had only one day off, before resuming training, then flying to Thailand on February 3. The Hong Kong team toast their success at the Asian Road Championships in Thailand. Photo: CAHKC 'I haven't heard anyone say they were tired or looking forward to coming back,' Dagorne said. 'Everything in Adelaide [where they spent five weeks] was perfect. We were welcome in all the races and the level was high. It showed our team a real cycling culture.'
