Speaking to Cyclingnews ahead of the Tour of Taihu Lake (November 5-12), China's first ever ProTour rider Li Fuyu (Discovery Channel 2007 and RadioShack 2010) is full of praise for his protégé, Wang Meiyin, who has been signed by Bahrain-Merida for the next two years.
He'll be the fifth rider from China to join cycling's top tier after Ji Cheng (Giant-Alpecin), who retired at the end of the Tour of Hainan last Sunday, Xing Yandong, who briefly joined him at Argos-Shimano in 2013, and Xu Gang, whose future is uncertain after three years with Lampre-Merida.
The new Chinese TJ Sport takeover of the Lampre-Merida team is yet to announce any Chinese recruits, but Wang will be able to speak Mandarin in the peloton with Orica-BikeExchange's Cheung King Lok from Hong Kong and his future teammate Feng Chung Kai from Taiwan.
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Wang will take part in the Tour of Taihu Lake and the Tour of Fuzhou (November 16-20) with his current team Wisdom-Hengxiang, directed by Fuyu, before heading to Europe for the first time ever to meet up with Bahrain-Merida at their December training camp.
"I wish Meiyin the best of luck," Fuyu said. "He's really professional and I'm sure he'll deliver a good show in the pro races as much as he's done with us for the past six years. He's definitely China's best cyclist ever.
"He's been approached by big teams before, like Orica-GreenEdge and Giant-Shimano, especially after the 2013 Tour de Langkawi [stage 3 winner in the Cameron Highlands, King of the Mountains, 5th overall and best Asian rider], but this is the first time that we have had a face to face discussion with a team. The request came from the head manager of Merida in China before the Chinese national championships in September. After I talked with [team manager] Brent Copeland, I'm convinced Meiyin will have a good chance to express his potential at the highest level."
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