Coordinators of a test event for the 15th National Games’ Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau road cycling race say the trial run on Sunday is to test traffic management and the spectator experience. The Hong Kong portion of the race will take around 90 minutes, with cyclists entering the SAR via the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge and then going along the North Lantau Highway and Penny’s Bay Highway, before heading back to Zhuhai after passing Hong Kong Disneyland. Yeung Tak-keung, the head of the National Games Coordination Office, said RTHK is liaising with the organising committee in Zhuhai to set up live broadcasting online for viewers. "Those members of the public who want to watch the competition on site, they can go to the spectator zone in Disneyland, and we expect the area can accommodate up to several hundred spectators," he said. Yeung said organisers place a lot of importance on ensuring a smooth and safe competition and will also use the trial to identify areas for improvement. "Experts from the mainland cycling association and the Hong Kong cycling association, we have conducted several site visits to go through the whole route. They found the whole current route is safe for high-level competitions for experienced cyclists," he said. "For the Hong Kong section of the route, our high-risk department have conducted very thorough examination of the whole route and they used different technologies to inspect the route and to make sure it will be safe for the cyclists." Principal Transport Officer Ken Wong said the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge will be closed for certain periods on Sunday. Lanes heading to Macau and Zhuhai will be shut from 7.30am to 12.30pm and lanes in the other direction will be closed between 9am and 12.30pm. "We expect, according to the prior publicity regarding the event, not too many passengers will make use of the bus to go to Zhuhai and Macau on the coming Sunday," he said. "We have already asked MTRCL to pay extra attention to the passenger demand during that morning. If there's any passenger demand, MTRCL will increase the services on the Tung Chung Line, Airport Express Line and Disneyland Line." The test event will be a men's individual 230-kilometres race, which is the first national sports event that connects Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau, and will be the only National Games event next year held in all three places.
