World cycling ruling body UCI is completely committed to the development of the Tour of Qinghai Lake, said UCI president Pat McQuaid in a meeting with Qinghai Governor Song Xiuyan.

"We did for instance at the beginning of this year send requests to all the pro teams and continental teams to consider to come to this race," said McQuaid.

He added that when these pro teams go back to Europe at the end of the race, telling their experience here, there's no doubt that there will be more teams in the future.

McQuaid noted that cycling is already very well developed in Europe but there is enormous potential development for the sport outside Europe and within that development Asia is an important continent.

He said that the success of the Tour of Qinghai Lake in only five years rising to become the best race in Asia is a wonderful testament to the world for the people and the authority support to the sport.

When mentioned the top three cycling races in the world, McQuaid said that Qinghai Lake has a long way to go before it get to that level, but all of those races are already 100 years old. "I don't mean we have to wait 95 years, but I can say that we can go much quicker than that," he said.

Approved by UCI, Tour of Qinghai Lake is one of the largest in scale, highest in level and classification among the cycling races in Asia.

The 2006 Tour of Qinghai Lake will be held from July 15 to 23. A total of 140 riders from 20 teams, including two UCI professional teams, four UCI professional continental teams, nine UCI continental teams and five national teams will take part in this "highest" cycling race in the world.

(Xinhua News Agency July 16, 2006)