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Glen wins frostbitten mountain stage

As contestants in the 2002 Tour de Taiwan race struggled through the Tour's most difficult stage over the Central Mountain Range yesterday, Chadwick Glen of the Giant Asia Racing Team cycled his way toward the championship in the six-day event's fourth stage -- from Lishan in Taichung County to Wuling in Nantou.

Added to his joy was the news that his team won the group championship in this leg of the Tour.

Competing in unfavorable conditions created by continuous drizzles, low temperatures, strong winds and muddy roads, riders could hardly enjoy the mountain scenery on Hohuan Mountain (合歡山) in Nantou County.

Although this stage covers the shortest distance at only 41.4km, competitors had to face a drastic right turn as they came out of a mountain tunnel with 10km to go, followed by a 1km-long muddy path. Moreover, they had to brave strong winds of temperatures as low as 30C as they neared the finish line at Wuling -- at an altitude of 3,275m above sea level.

Pestered by mist and fine drizzles all the way -- and having to traverse segments of frozen road -- cyclists maintained a slow 20kph in the first half of the race.

Within the last 20km though, Glen sped up and kept the momentum until the final line. He won this leg in a time of one hour, 37 minutes and 17 seconds, followed by Wong Kam Po (黃金寶) from Hong Kong who trailed by 53 seconds.

Wong, champion of the first leg, narrowly beat Matej Jurco of the Merida International Team by one second.

Glen's teammate Tonton Susanto won fourth place.

Including Glen and Susanto, the Giant team saw its four members all listed in the top 10, capturing the group title for the stage.

The day five race will start in front of the Nantou County Government building at 10am today. Riders will tackle more difficult terrain in an area that was severely hit by the 921 earthquake -- making it a very grueling 182.2km leg.
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