Taiwan Cup set to be bigger and better in 2011

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King Liu, the founder and chairman of Giant bicycles has promised to make the Taiwan Cup race bigger and better in 2011, with November 5 already earmarked on the calendar.

The first edition was due to take place last Sunday but was cancelled because of Typhoon Megi and replaced with a hill climb won by Amets Txurruka (Euskaltel-Euskadi). Oscar Freire, Robert Hunter, Tadej Valjavec, Darren Lill and David Tanner also competed in the event that is part of the Taiwan Cycling Festival.

“Unfortunately Typhoon Megi brought a weather system that forced the organisers to cancel the race for safety reasons but we achieved our main goal because we wanted to use the first edition as a warm-up and everything has gone well from an organisation point of view,” King Liu told Cyclingnews.

“But I had lunch with the riders at Sunmoon Lake and they said they will come back next year. We’ll run the event on a bigger scale on November 5, 2011. The government of Taiwan and the cycling industry here are very supportive. We want to make Taiwan a cycling paradise.”

Liu is 76 but rides almost every day and is a key figure in the global cycling industry. In 2011, Taiwan will celebrate its hundredth anniversary. The Taiwan Cup will be part of the festivities.