Team Argos-Shimano to skip the Tour of Beijing after receiving a wild-card invitation
The political brawl between China and Japan related to the sovereignty of East China Island has caused a lot of tension in East Asia at the moment and Chinese Government has already suggested the Japanese citizens to leave the country.
Tour of Beijing is the last race on the UCI World Tour calendar for 2012 season and all the professional cycling teams have already finalised their squads for the event in order to end the season on a high note.
The Chinese race is the last opportunity for the cyclists to earn as many UCI points as they can to secure better contracts for the coming season.
However, the equation is not that simple for the Dutch side, Team Argos-Shimano considering the fact that the team has Japanese sponsor and has riders from both China and Japan on its squad.
The side has now withdrawn from the race as noted by the team spokesman Bennie Ceulen during an interview with Cyclingnews.
“We will not ride there, due to the current circumstances,” he noted.
“We don't know what others will do. We have said that we will not go there to ride and we have nothing more to say”.
Global Cycling Promotion, owned by UCI is co-organising the Tour of Beijing and is led by Alain Rumpf who is currently busy monitoring the situation in China.
"What matters is everyone's safety and it is true that the situation can become worrying," Rumpf told Reuters after the expulsions.
“Global Cycling Promotion and the local organising committee of the Tour of Beijing discussed with Team Argos-Shimano the option of not participating in the Tour of Beijing”.
“Due to the current circumstances, the team accepted to withdraw from the race,” he concluded.
No matter how awful the political situation might be, it shall not influence the sports and the love of cycling in China is not hidden after the last year’s success of the Tour of Beijing.
All the 19 World Tour teams are expected to participate at the race five-day race scheduled from October 9-
13, 2012.
Team Argos-Shimano received a wild-card invitation at the race after some tremendous sprinting performances by Marcel Kittel and John Degenkolb but too bad, the fans will miss their star riders in the last World Tour race of the season.
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