Hong Kong cycling is currently trying to stave off the doomsday scenario of failing to qualify a track racer for the Olympic Games for the first time since 1996.
The lone hope of ensuring the city’s presence for a seventh straight games is Ceci Lee Sze-wing, the 22-year-old, who claimed four of those Asian championships medals, and currently occupies a Paris qualifying spot in the omnium event.
Dagorne has been influential in Lee’s development, first as national cycling coach at the Hong Kong Sports Institute (HKSI), where he arrived in 2018 after three years as Kazakhstan head coach, followed by his interim head coach stint this year.
A statement confirming Dagorne’s full-time appointment did not specify the length of the 57-year-old’s contract.
It read: “The Cycling Association of Hong Kong, China announced … that Mr Herve Dagorne has been appointed as the Head Cycling Coach of the Hong Kong Cycling Team by the Hong Kong Sports Institute. Mr Dagorne will assume his new position with immediate effect.
“Since his arrival in Hong Kong in 2018, Coach Dagorne has served as the middle- and long-distance coach for the Hong Kong Cycling Team. During his tenure, he has led a group of young athletes … to transition into the adult category.
“The Association believes that coach Dagorne, with his years of experience coaching national cycling teams and professional teams abroad, as well as his time with the Hong Kong Cycling Team, will continue to guide cyclists to achieve excellent results in various international competitions in the future, and we expect to see the team progress to the global stage and bring glory to Hong Kong.”
When they advertised the post in November, the HKSI specified that applicants should have “more than 10 years of experience in coaching cycling at an international level, as well as knowledge of sports science and sports medicine”.
Dagorne fits the bill, after 11 years as managing director of French cycling outfit US Creteil, and five years, from September 2009, in charge of his homeland’s track cycling team, a period that included his riders winning 2012 Olympic silver medals in the men’s omnium, men’s individual sprint, and men’s team sprint events. He is a professor of sports science, too, gaining the qualification from the French national institute of sport in 2009.
The personable Dagorne, who lost a bronze medal team pursuit race as a competitor at the 1988 Games in Seoul, wrote on his LinkedIn account that it was a “privilege and pleasure” to accept his new role.
“Managing and serving Hong Kong’s cycling teams is a great honour, and I thank the leaders of HKSI, the Cycling Association of Hong Kong, and all the athletes for placing their confidence in me,” he said. “I look forward to our collaboration as we work together to win international medals for Hong Kong cycling.”
Dagorne’s first major competition in permanent charge is next month’s Track Nations Cup in Canada.
