Ji Cheng’s tenth professional season might well be his last, as the first ever Chinese cyclist to start and complete a Grand Tour has retirement in sight at the age of 29, with a possible future in television to promote cycling in his country.
“I’ve never started a season so early,” Ji told Cyclingnews in Adelaide after stage 1 of the Santos Tour Down Under. “I always heard a lot of good stories about this race. It’s summertime, there are koalas, kangaroos and so on. It’s a WorldTour race, quite well known in China, since we now have cycling websites and web portals LeTV and Hysport who report about the races. When I heard in November about the possibility of coming to Australia, I secured a visa before I found out my definitive race program during a training camp in Altea in Spain, in December.
“It’s a bit of a shock for my body since I’m from the north of China [the Heilongjiang province] where the average temperature at this time of the year is -31°”, the Giant-Alpecin rider said. “I’m not at 100% of my capacities yet. Initially we came here with ambitions for [Tour de France Pra Loup stage winner] Simon Geschke who is a good uphill sprinter but he’s suffering from an injured knee so we switched to Tobias Ludvigsson as our GC rider.”
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Ji completed the Vuelta a España in 2012 and the Tour de France two years later, and he made himself a household name when he rode the Grand Tours at the service of sprinters John Degenkolb and Marcel Kittel, earning the nickname “breakaway killer” as he spent lengthy hours pulling the peloton behind the escapees. He’s on Giant-Alpecin’s long list for the Giro alongside Tom Dumoulin this year but he’s not sure yet if he’ll ever ride a Grand Tour again. He got married in 2013 and wants to make his family his priority soon.
“I’m up for contract this year and I feel that I’m now enjoying my tenth and last season racing as a professional in Europe”, said the Chinese who started with Skil-Shimano in 2007 and has been based in the Netherlands since.
“I will remain active in cycling for sure but I feel it’s time for me to move on to the other side of the fence and help Chinese cycling to develop. I’d like to give the talented 15 or 16 year-olds a chance to reach the pro level. I’ve always said that there are more talented cyclists than me in China, especially younger ones. I’ve paved the way for them even though I’m not a sprinter, I’m not a climber and I’m not a time triallist but now it’s clear that a Chinese rider can ride the Tour de France.
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