The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge will be closed for about five hours on Saturday morning while the men's individual road cycling event for the National Games takes place.

The race, the only event of the Games spanning Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau, will see 104 athletes from 23 teams compete along a 231.8-kilometre route.

Hong Kong will be fielding nine athletes, including Vincent Lau, Mow Ching-yin, Charles Ng, Tso Kai-kwong, Chu Tsun-wai, Ng Sum-lui, Spencer Cheung, Stuart Yau and Tommy Wu.

The race begins at 9am at Zhuhai Museum. Cyclists will pass through Macau before entering Hong Kong via the mega bridge.

The Hong Kong segment, approximately 55.8 km long, will take riders along the North Lantau Highway to the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort area before returning to the bridge.

After re-entering Hengqin, the race will finish back at the Zhuhai Museum at approximately 2.30pm.

The Hong Kong segment is expected to last from about 10.20am to 11.50am.

As the event crosses borders, all participating athletes and support staff must complete pre-clearance procedures.

According to Yeung Tak-keung, head of the National Games Coordination Office in Hong Kong, special arrangements have been made for 104 athletes and around 100 support personnel.

“Altogether over 200 people will be in the bubble. They have to submit their personal information, travel documents etc, for verification and checking beforehand. There will not be a sudden increase in the number of people in the bubble,” he said.

On the day of the event, traffic-control measures will be enforced on the bridge.

Eastbound traffic from Zhuhai and Macau to Hong Kong will be subject to controls from 9am to 12.30pm.

Westbound traffic from Hong Kong to Zhuhai and Macau will be controlled from 7.30am to 12.30pm.

Yeung said all vehicles will be prohibited from using the bridge, and travellers are advised to use alternative land border crossings.

For those needing to cross the bridge before it closes, he said travellers and vehicles must arrive at the Hong Kong Port Passenger Clearance Building or Vehicle Clearance Plaza by 6.30am to complete the departure and border crossing procedures.

Authorities also warned of potential delays of around 30 minutes for journeys to the airport due to road traffic control.

Principal Transport Officer Vivian Kwan said initially, only limited cross-boundary bus services will operate between Hong Kong and Zhuhai after the SAR port reopens at 12.30pm, as the race will still be ongoing in Zhuhai.

“There are about 160 gold buses on standby at ports in Hong Kong, Zhuhai and Macau sides to meet passenger demand after reopening of the Hong Kong port,” she said.

A public viewing area for the event will be set up on the pedestrian path of Fantasy Road in Disneyland. Yeung urged spectators to arrive by 10.40am at the latest, warning that latecomers may miss the chance to watch the race pass by.

He also reminded the public that the women’s road cycling event will take place in Zhuhai on Sunday, urging people to avoid travelling there in the morning due to extensive road closures.