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US cyclist Shawn Milne wins Tour de Taiwan title

Japanese cyclist Satoshi Hirose of the Asian Racing team raises his fist after winning yesterday's final stage of the Tour de Taiwan. PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUN, TAIPEI TIMES

The Tour de Taiwan drew to a close yesterday as competitors from 19 teams and 13 countries raced through the streets of Taipei around City Hall and Taipei 101 during the seventh and final stage of the event.

As expected, US rider Shawn Milne of the Health Net-Maxxis team took the individual combined title with a time of 17:56.35. He was followed by Australian Robert McLachlan of the Drapac Porche team in second place 1.04 minutes behind, while Yevgeniy Yakovlev of the Polygon Sweet Nice team took third and Wong Kam Po (黃金寶) of the Hong Kong team came in fourth.

In the combined team standings, Continental Cycling Team Differdange won the championship, followed by Drapac Porche in second, Health Net-Maxxis in third and the Giant Asia Racing team in fourth.

Among Taiwanese racers, Peng Kui-hsiang (彭貴祥) left with the "white jersey," which goes to the fastest Taiwanese competitors.

However, the winner of yesterday's stage was Japanese cyclist Satoshi Hirose of the Asian Racing team, who completed the circuit in 58.19 minutes.

Wu Po-hung (巫帛宏) of Chinese Taipei CKT was the fastest Taiwanese competitor.

The race began with Hirose and four other competitors pulling away from the pack. As the results of the tour had already been mostly determined by the first six stages, racers in the main pack kept a conservative pace and let the leading pack surge ahead.

With 21 laps to go, the lead team overtook the main group, which meant that the race ended prematurely according to tournament rules. It was the first time a race was ended early in 19 tours.

The leading four racers were given two additional laps to decide the winner and Hirose sprinted ahead at the end to claim first.

Wu, who had set his sights on winning the stage, said that he didn't notice when Hirose surged ahead, and by the time he did it was too late to catch him.

Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) was joined by various city officials and bureau chiefs in opening the day's race with a circuit through the course.

Hau said that he hoped the tour would help promote bicycles as a popular form of transportation in Taipei, while Chen Yu-hsin (陳雨鑫) of the National Council on Physical Fitness and Sports said Taiwan should be proud that points accumulated at the tour count toward qualification for the Olympics.
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