Nguyen Thi That competes in a domestic cycling tournament. (Photo courtesy of Nguyen Thi That)

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The race, hosted by the International Cycling Union (UCI) - the world governing body for sports cycling and overseas international competitive cycling events - took place on June 3. It is rated by the UCI as a 1.1 race. It attracts more than 150 cyclists from many nations around the world every year. That competed for the UCI World Cycling Centre (WCC), where she received her training.

That, from the southern province of An Giang, reached the finish line after having the best time at 03:14.20 in the 125km-long race. Wiebes Lorena from the Netherlands took second and was followed by Italian Balsamo Elisa. That is scheduled to join the Diamond Tour, the women’s professional one-day road bicycle race held in Belgium on June 10 to gain ranking points.

She is training at the WCC in Switzerland and will take part in several more tournaments in Europe in the WCC jersey to prepare for the 2018 Asian Games (ASIAD) in Indonesia in August. That aims to grab a gold medal at ASIAD 2018, said Tran Hai Trieu, a manager of That’s cycling team in Vietnam – Gao Hat Ngoc Troi – An Giang. She plans to compete in international tours to earn points to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. To this end, That must be in the world’s top 50 cyclists, he added.

That’s impressive performance in recent international tours has earned her 61st spot in the world cyclist rankings. In February, she beat 26 rivals to win the women’s 106km road race of the Asian Road and Para Cycling Championships in Myanmar. It was the first gold medal won by a Vietnamese female cyclist in an Asian tour. In March, she won the Grand Prix of Crevoisier 2018 in Les Genevez, Switzerland. Two weeks before that, the Southeast Asian Games winner finished second in the 16th Grand Prix of Chambery in France.