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Tour de Taiwan nears the finish line

By Ian Bartholomew
STAFF REPORTER
Thursday, Mar 13, 2008, Page 13

Tour de Taiwan nears the finish line PHOTO: CNA

This morning, 20 teams participating in the Tour de Taiwan, the island's premier bicycling event, will struggle through Stage Five of the race: 148.3km around Hsinchu. It's the most grueling stretch of the competition.

As of press time, Giant Asia Racing Team was in the lead, but with four stages left it's still anybody's race. Tomorrow, the racers are scheduled to arrive in Taipei County and will complete the race with two final stages in Taipei City.

The Tour de Taiwan has been moving north throughout the week. The race started in Kaohsiung, looped through Pingtung and then headed to Changhua, Taichung and Hsinchu on the east coast.

Tour de Taiwan is part of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) Asian Tour and since 2006 has been integrated into the Taipei Cycle Show, organized by Taiwan External Trade Development Council (see story above).

With five local teams, out of 20, the event is a major training ground for local cyclists who have ambitions to join the international circuit. There are also teams from Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Canada, the UK, US, Holland, South Korea and Australia.

During the event, Taiwan promotes its cycling industry. This year, both Giant and Merida, Taiwan's largest cycling manufacturers have teams: longtime rivals Merida Europe and Giant Asia Racing Teams. While both feature international stars, they also give locals a chance to show their potential.

The total race covers 800km, with both road race and circuit elements. Saturday's race around the Nangang Exhibition Center also highlights the important role played by Taiwan in the production of top-end cycling components.

For those who want to watch the races, the fifth stage will be setting out from the plaza in front of the Hsinchu City Government building (新竹市政府前) at 9am today. The 127.7km leg in Taipei County will set off at 10am tomorrow from the plaza in front of the Taipei County Government building in Banqiao, cross the Guandu Bridge and finish at the same location. Racers are expected to complete the leg around 1pm. The seventh stage is a circuit race around the Taipei Cycle Show at the Taipei World Trade Center Nangang Exhibition Hall (台北世界貿易中心南港展覽館), which covers a distance of 58km. It starts at 9:30am in front of the main entrance to the exhibition hall. The event concludes on Sunday with 60 laps around Taipei City Government building, along Songgao (松高路), Songzhi (松智路), Songshou (松壽路) and Shifu roads (市府路), starting at 10am.

Updated information can be found at the Tour de Taiwan Web site at www.khhtri.org.tw/tourdetaiwan.
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