The country's top cycle manufacturer is attempting to take a giant step out of the shadows of international competition by hiring foreign riders and racing in Europe -- with the ultimate goal of having a local rider compete in the Tour de France.
Giant is the biggest original designer and producer of bicycles in the world, but apart from its partial sponsorship of Spanish team ONCE, it has had little impact in the higher echelons of international road racing.
Its decision last year to form Giant Asia Racing Team and join the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) tour in the third-ranked TT/III division represents the mid-way point of a long and continuing race for global recognition.
"We are optimistic that we can compete with the very best in the world and it is only by doing this that we can prove it," said Claire Chung, international relations coordinator for Giant.
Long road
"We obviously have a long way to go but our aim at the end is to compete in the very biggest races such as the Tour de France, with local riders taking part."
Currently, Chung said, local riders are not good enough to compete with the world's best and will need to be encouraged by promoting the sport nationally and hiring foreign cyclists until they are good enough.
"At the moment most of our riders compete in domestic competitions and when someone is good enough they will take the next step and race in Asia, then Europe," Chung said.
"Taiwan riders generally stay in Taiwan. Locals are not really good enough to compete at the highest level internationally, which is why we have brought in foreigners," Chung said.
"One day we hope that local riders will be able to do so and even take part in top races like the Tour de France."
Giant has been dominating the local scene for a while now, with good finishes in the National Open Bicycle Road Race and other national events such as the Tour of Taiwan last month.
On the international front, Giant's foreign contingent of Australia's Glen Chadwick and Paul Redenbachad were in the top 10 in the recently concluded Tour of Hellas.
Currently, team members are in Paris to prepare for races there and in Belgium. One rider, however, Ghader Mizbani of Iran, had his French visa was rejected.
Next month, when there is a pause in racing in Europe, the Giant team will return to Taiwan when fans will be able to see them on May 6, before theyrace in South Korea.
Standing
The latest official ranking of trade teams shows that Giant is No. 4 of all TT/III teams, which is the lowest category for professional road racing, but with the largest number of teams, 67.
It is a good start for Giant which is hoping to move rapidly through the ranks into the TT/II category with around 25 teams, some of whom it has already competed against.
There are about 30 TT/I teams which feature the cream of the cycling world, such as Lance Armstrong and the US Postal Service team, which competes in the Tour de France and the World Cup.
A new racing team has to spend a lot of money traveling and providing backup for its riders, so Giant has hired Qiu Jijin and Norman Shelmerdine as consultants to analyze which races in Asia and Europe the team should take part in.
Clearly Giant is in the race for the long term and five years from now it could well reap the dividends from increased exposure in the biggest of all cycling events, the Tour de France.
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