Erciyes Mountain, one of Turkey's most important winter sports and tourism centers, hosts the Chinese Cycling National Team.
With the investments of Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality, the athletes of the Chinese Cycling National Team, who preferred the Erciyes Ski Center, which has attracted great interest from ski lovers and cyclists in recent years, are saving their strength in the high altitude camp.
The Chinese athletes, who continue their training in Erciyes, where they came with the organization of the Cycling Tourism Association, are preparing for the Asian Cycling Championship.
It is expected that 12 more teams from abroad will camp in the tourism center in the coming days.
"We can say that it is the most beautiful high altitude center in Europe"
China National Cycling Team Coach Lionel Marie reminded the AA correspondent that he previously coached Torku Konyaspor Cycling Team.
Explaining that he has been doing research on the geography and technical features of Erciyes since then, Marie said:
"It is one of the rare places where you can sleep at 2,000 meters and train at 1200 meters. We can say that this is the most beautiful high altitude center in Europe. When you sleep at about 2,000 meters, it has a natural doping effect that provides a performance increase. The red cells in the blood increase and take the team to a higher level in terms of performance before the competitions."
Expressing that they are currently preparing for the Asian Cycling Championship, Marie stated that they will participate in the races to be held in Erciyes and in Europe later on.
Su Haoyu: We're having a good training session.
Team captain Su Haoyu said that he came to Kayseri for the first time.
Stating that they had been camping in Alanya for about 3 months and participated in the races there, Haoyu continued as follows:
"I especially liked the asphalt quality and natural foods of Erciyes. We also have doctors and dietitians in the team. We're having a good training session. We are in a place that can be a rare high altitude training camp center in the world, not only in Europe. In China, I already live at 2,000, 2,200 meters. I think that Erciyes will become the world's leading high-altitude bicycle camping center in the future, with its climate, natural food resources and diversity."
Stating that they are preparing for the races intensely, Haoyu said, "Our team is already divided into two. Half of them are in the Slovenia tour, the other half is here. Our main goal is the Olympic points and the Asian Championship."