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German cyclist Mueller quits Taiwan race over radiation fears
Mar 17, 2011, 15:44 GMT
Taipei - German cyclist Dirk Mueller has pulled out of the 2011 Tour de Taiwan fearing radioactive dust from Japan, the organizers said Thursday.
The Chinese-Taipei Cycling Association said Mueller, from Team Nutrixxion Sparkasse and champion of the 2010 Tour de China, has pulled out of the March 19-28 race following Japan's nuclear power plant emergency.
Five other top cyclists - Downing Dean (Britain), Miyataka Shimizu (Japan), Wong Kam-po (Hong Kong), Nohd Nur Rizuan Zainal (Malaysia) and Sergej Fuchs (Germany) - will attend the event.
The 2011 Tour de Taiwan is designated by the International Cycling Union UCI as a qualifying race for the 2012 London Olympic Games.
Twenty teams, including 12 foreign team, with a total of 120 cyclists will compete in the nine-leg, 1,200 kilometre race around the Taiwan island.
Following the blast at Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant, there were fears that the radioactive dust might be swept by wind to Asia-Pacific countries.
But the Taiwan Atomic Energy Council assured Taiwanese Thursday that as Fukushima is 2,200 kilometres from Taiwan, it is unlikely that the radioactive dust will reach Taiwan.
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