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After the bicycle fire incident, the Vietnamese team will be lent bikes by host Thailand and other teams to compete in the 2025 Asian Road Cycling Championship.
This morning, February 6, the Organizing Committee met to record the material damage of the Vietnamese and Singaporean teams on the way to transport their bikes to the competition venue. According to the General Secretary of the Vietnam Cycling and Motor Sports Federation Nguyen Ngoc Vu - who is also the head of the team in Thailand, the host team and other teams will lend Vietnam 7 bikes for the competition.
"The Thai organizing committee has contacted the Vietnamese delegation to assess the damage. They have collected information about the number, size of helmets and shoes of the cyclists to provide appropriate equipment," Mr. Vu added.
Also this morning, the Asian Cycling Federation met in Bangkok with the participation of the President of the International Cycling Union (UCI) to report the incident. The organizing committee and the Asian Cycling Federation will meet and discuss the method of compensation for the Vietnamese cycling team.
Mr. Mai Cong Hieu - one of the two coaches of the Vietnamese team - was grateful that the Organizing Committee quickly intervened and handled this situation. However, according to the former Vietnamese cycling legend, bicycles are indispensable to cyclists. The racing bike must be suitable in size for the height, weight, and indicators of each athlete, so having a new racing bike without time to get used to it will be very difficult for the athletes.
"The athletes have been practicing throughout Tet, eagerly waiting for the competition day, so they were very shocked by the recent incident. With the borrowed cars, we can only encourage them to compete for the flag, but it is difficult to demand high results," said Mr. Hieu.
Yesterday afternoon, February 5, the Vietnamese team went to Thailand to participate in the 2025 Asian Road Cycling Championship. After arriving at Bangkok airport, the group boarded the Organizing Committee's bus to the competition venue, Phitsanulok - a city in northern Thailand. The competition equipment, including bicycles, spare tires, shoes, helmets, etc., were transported by the Organizing Committee by truck along with similar equipment from the Singapore team. However, on the way, the truck suddenly caught fire, burning down the entire thing.
The number of burned racing bikes in Vietnam is 30. Professional racing bikes are valuable, of which the bikes of individual time trial riders Nguyen Tuan Vu and Nguyen Thi Thu Mai are worth more than 250 million VND each. Nguyen Thi That's bike is worth more than 150 million VND. The total damage is up to billions of VND. Most of the athletes' bikes are personal or owned by local units. The issue of insurance is being considered and calculated, but it depends on whether individuals or organizations buy it or not.
The 2025 Asian Road Cycling Championships will take place from February 7 to 16. The tournament will bring together nearly 500 excellent cyclists from the continent, including professional national teams, U23 and U18 youth teams, and senior athletes competing in the Master category. The tournament is part of the UCI system, helping cyclists gain experience in preparation for the 33rd SEA Games.
At the 2023 tournament, cyclist Nguyen Thi That won the gold medal in the road event - and also won a ticket to the Olympics. In 2024, she won the silver medal. In addition, the Vietnamese team also won many medals in the youth events.
VN (according to VnExpress)