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.
PHOTO: CNA
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.
When the Dutch began interacting with the indigenous people of Taiwan, they found that their hunters classified deer hide quality for trade using the Portuguese terms for “head,” “belly,” and “foot.” The Portuguese must have stopped here more than once to trade, but those visits have all been lost to history. They already had a colony on Macao, and did not need Taiwan to gain access to southern China or to the trade corridor that connected Japan with Manila. They were, however, the last to look at Taiwan that way. The geostrategic relationship between Taiwan and the Philippines was established
Sept. 9 to Sept. 15 The upgrading of sugarcane processing equipment at Ciaozaitou Sugar Factory (橋仔頭) in 1904 had an unintended but long-lasting impact on Taiwan’s transportation and rural development. The newly imported press machine more than doubled production, leading to an expansion of the factory’s fields beyond what its original handcarts and oxcarts could handle. In 1905, factory manager Tejiro Yamamoto headed to Hawaii to observe how sugarcane transportation was handled there. They had trouble finding something suitable for Taiwan until they discovered a 762mm-gauge “miniature” railroad at a small refinery in the island of Maui. On
“Once you get there, you think, that’s a little embarrassing or revealing or scary... but ultimately, I learned that is where the good stuff is,” says Taiwanese-American director Sean Wang about writing indie breakout Didi (弟弟), which debuted at Sundance Film Festival Asia 2024 in Taipei last month. Didi is a heartwarming coming-of-age story centered on the Asian American experience. Not just a 2000s teenage nostalgia piece, but a raw, unflinching look at immigrant families and adolescent identity struggles. It quickly became the centerpiece of the event, striking a chord with not only those sharing similar backgrounds but anyone who’s ever
“Magical,” “special,” a “total badass:” step forward Kamala Harris, the 59-year-old dynamo who has rebranded her country at lightning speed, offering it up as a nation synonymous with optimism, hope and patriotism. For the rest of us, Kamala’s gift is her joy and vibrancy — and the way she is smashing it just months away from her seventh decade, holding up 60 in all its power and glory. Welcome to the new golden age. Hers is the vibrancy of a woman who owns her power, a woman who is manifesting her experience and expertise, a woman who knows her time has
RSS