'It's a whole new world here' - Interview with Mihkel Räim on racing in China
Former WorldTour pro speaks to Global Peloton about racing in Tibet at 4000m, his rapid Estonian sprint train and supporting the next generation of Mongolian riders
This is the first of a series of off-season in-depth interviews which will be released over the coming months.
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Enjoy!
Dan
Four years ago, Mihkel Räim was racing for Israel Start-Up Nation at WorldTour level and had just completed his first and only Grand Tour at the Vuelta a España. This year, the 31-year-old from the Estonian island of Saaremaa rides for a Mongolian continental team dominating Chinese racing circuit. A far cry from the top European racing scene, 2024 has seen Räim racing in the oxygen-sucking altitude of Tibet and the speed-inducing flatlands of Huangshan.
Räim joined Ferei Quick-Panda Podium Mongolia Team after an unsuccessful spell with Czech continental team ATT Investments. Mid-way through the 2023 season the two parties came to a mutual agreement to part ways and Räim was left without a team, but wanted to continue racing. Through some contacts, he managed to get a ride for a Chinese amateur team for the Tour of Poyang Lake, before moving to race for Ferei in several Chinese UCI races at the back end of the year and stuck with them for 2024.
Racing in China has been a very different experience for Räim and has come with several surprises.
"It's really different than in Europe," Räim tells Global Peloton over a call from China as he prepares to take part in the final few races of the team's season. "In the flat races the speed is actually higher than European ones because the roads are such a good surface. Sometimes we are basically on the highways and the peloton takes the speed up really easily. There is less fighting for the positions and stuff like that. It's a whole new world here, actually."
These days it's a common thing to see a rider like Räim, an experienced former pro with plenty still to give, racing in China. They can continue to be paid to race while sharing their experience with up and coming riders in a high standard environment.
"They have such a big budget to make the races and they want people to come to the races...It's really, really well organised always. There are some things us Europeans don't understand why it's like that, but we can't make the rules here. So it's like, never mind. Just go with the flow. But yeah, it's very well organised."
The Estonian sprint kings
Alongside high profile events such as the Tours of Taihu Lake or Hainan, there is a very full schedule of national level Chinese races that the team takes part in. Ferei Quick-Panda Podium Mongolia Team have been a dominant force for much of the season thanks to their rapid Estonian-led sprint train, piloted by Räim, but led by former Astana-Qazaqstan quick-man Martin Laas.
Laas has taken 21 wins this season, 10 of those coming at UCI level including three at .PRO races against WorldTour and ProTeam opposition. Räim serves as Laas' final man, while compatriots Gleb Karpenko and Oskar Nisu work to guide the two friends into position.
"I'm surprised how strong we were. I knew that we are good friends and we have good communication with each other and strong, but I didn't know that we can really beat WorldTour teams and ProTeams in the sprint. Some stages they were not even close to us. So that's a really big surprise for me," Räim says of a dream-team long in the making.
"That was our dream already like ten years ago. In 2015 I raced together with Martin in the same French amateur team and we had a really good teamwork together and we knew that if it would be the same team in the professional ranks we could do something really good because we trust each other, we don't need to speak in the race, but it never happened. There was one year when he was struggling [for a contract] and we were speaking and I was in Israel and we were speaking with Israel team and they were interested about him, but in the end it wasn't the deal and we were never able to ride together - only with the national team."
"I have trained with him almost like everyday in last two years or something like that, and I know that he has the speed and I always believed in him…I know what he is capable of...Then we start to build up the team and this has really worked out good. We had one young guy, Gleb Karpenko, who hasn't been in such a team before but when he joined the team we told him immediately that your job is to control the group and be the first guy in the lead-out and then we start to build up from there."
Racing in Tibet at 4000 metres
As one of the largest nations on earth, China has a varied landscape, and the team have experienced its full range in 2024. In August, Räim took part in the Trans-Himalaya Cycling Race, a three-day 2.2 race around Tibet. The entire race took place above 3000 metres of altitude, and even crested over 4000 on a couple of occasions. The race was won by Aaron Gate, riding for Burgos BH, with Laas in fifth having won stage one.
"To sleep and live at like 3500 metres in the capital of Tibet, that was something. Basically you have one or two bullets in the race. If you make an all-out attack, you know that it's going to take you at least half an hour to recover…you have to be smart," Räim says.
"Also the thing was that the race was so so fast because there is less air. We just go faster and faster. For example, last stage I broke my chain and then I took a spare bike, but we had to adjust my seat height. So I was back in the convoy with the ambulance car and the bad thing was that on the spare bike we had a 54 chain ring in the front, but the race bike I had 56. The peloton was going like 60, 65 k per hour and I was behind the team car getting back to the convoy at 75 but it took me like 10 or 15 minutes to reach back to the peloton and I was completely wasted because I was going basically full gas behind the car."
"It was crazy. Luckily the stages were flat or just really small hills, but I can't imagine if there will be real climbs because then I think it's dangerous honestly. Even the sleep at 4,000 metres, it's not comfortable."
Mongolian cycling
Ferei Quick-Panda Podium Mongolia Team were originally set up in 2022 with the aim of taking Mongolian riders to UCI races to pick up UCI points to qualify for the Olympic Games and World Championships. This year they have been Estonian-led, but with the aim that these experienced Estonians would pass on their knowledge gained over years in the professional peloton to younger Mongolian riders.
Mongolian cycling is in the best place it’s ever been, with Jambaljamts Sainbayar having become their first-ever professional rider this year with Räim’s former team Burgos BH. However, the talent-gap between the Estonian and Mongolian contingent in the team has been significant. Räim has enjoyed helping the young riders coming through.
"There's some youngsters and honestly, there is one, two, three guys who are really young, but we see that they they are learning fast and adapting really well. We put them in contact with our coach who is Italian, so he started to create the training plans for them. We already see like this last two, three months they really [levelled up]. They have a lot of to learn, but it's a good thing that most of them they trust us and what we speak before the race in the meetings and in the race like how to progress or how to work, then they listen us and I think it's important to us that they listen and also for them in the future."
It's all change for Ferei next year. The squad will become registered in Estonia and known as Quick Pro Team. Räim and his Estonian crew have said they are looking to become the "best lead out train in Asia," but will also target races in Europe. As of right now, it's unknown whether the team will retain any Mongolian riders, but Räim didn't rule out the possibility.
"This will be actually an Estonian team, Estonian flag and most of the guys from Estonia, so this is the idea," Räim says.
"We have quite optimistic and big plans to make our team even stronger in Europe but also in the Asian calendar and having more invitations."
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