The second stage of the Tour de Taiwan on Monday saw more than 100 cyclists sent in the wrong direction due to a human error, causing the race to be temporarily halted.
After the opening day’s start in Taipei on Sunday, the second stage ran through a 120km course from Taoyuan City Hall to Jiaobanshan Park in Taoyuan’s Fusing District (復興).
The race is a class 2.1 event on the Union Cycliste Internationale Asian Tour calendar this year, attracting nearly 200 professional cyclists from 30 nations, organizers said.
Photo courtesy of the Chinese Taipei Cycling Association
The mishap took place in the afternoon, 25km before the end of the stage, where a leading breakaway group of 18 cyclists headed straight through an intersection in Longtan Township (龍潭), but more than 100 cyclists in the main group were misguided by several local organizers acting as marshals, who rode on motorcycles to guide the racers, as they turned to the right.
The group rode on for about 1.5km before the race was halted and the group was redirected back to the correct course, but many competitors complained of the shoddy work and ludicrous lapse of attention by event organizers.
“The leading group was ahead by one minute and 10 seconds, but the lead over the main group was extended to about five minutes after the wrong turn. To ensure fairness in the race, we decided to stop the leading group, [waited] for the main group to return to the correct route, then we restarted the race,” said the event’s Iranian head judge, surnamed Majid.
“I have never seen such a mistake, with more than 100 competitors being misled along the wrong turn. I am afraid this will damage the reputation of the Tour de Taiwan ... it has affected the race and disrupted the rhythm of the competitors,” Taiwanese cyclist Feng Chun-kai (馮俊凱) said.
“I think it was a huge mistake by the organizers. Obviously it affected my race, because they stopped the breakaway group with 20km to go,” a competitor said.
“It was unfair for the peloton, because they lost so many minutes ... but in the end, I think the organizers made the right decision” by halting the race, another foreign cyclist said.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner