Vietnamese cyclist Nguyen Thi That will compete for Lotto–Soudal Ladies, a women's professional cycling team based in Belgium, next year.

Top Vietnamese female cyclist Nguyen Thi That (middle). (Photo: mediacdn.vn)

That, in the International Cycling Union (UCI)’s top 70, was invited to join the team after winning the Dwars door de Westhoek in Belgium last June.

The Vietnamese racer, born in 1993 in the southern province of An Giang, previously competed for the UCI World Cycling Centre, where she received her training in Switzerland. 

In July, That jumped two places in the UCI’s rankings to 34th, making her the highest ranked Asian in the world.

In February, she beat 26 rivals to win the women’s 106km road race at 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, That finished second in the 16th Grand Prix of Chambery in France.

Her participation in the Lotto–Soudal Ladies is considered a step in preparation for qualifying for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.-VNA