The Tour de Taiwan bike race starts in Kaohsiung on 9 March and finishes in Taipei on 16 March. It will pass through various cities in Taiwan in between. Stage by stage:
* Stage 1: 9 March (Sun) Kaohsiung City
* Stage 2: 10 March (Mon) Pingdong County
* Stage 3: 11 March (Tue) Zhanghua County
* Stage 4: 12 March (Wed) Taizhong City
* Stage 5: 13 March (Thu) Xinzhu City
* Stage 6: 14 March (Fri) Taipei County
* Stage 7: 15 March (Sat) Taipei City (Nangang)
* Stage 8: 16 March (Sun) Taipei City (Taipei City Hall)
The race is part of the UCI Asia Tour and 22 teams from 15 countries will participate.
I don’t care who posted it first – thanks for posting this. I definitely plan to get out and see this. If anyone’s never watched a serious bike race, I highly recommend it. It’s fast and exciting. I hope to catch both of the last stages.
I’ll try to make it over there. Where will you meet?
Incidentally, I haven’t watched a good bike race in years, but I used to get really excited about the Coors Classic, about a decade ago, which was a first-class international race with many stages across the US (I believe it was later cancelled, sadly, because they could no longer afford the insurance). I saw 3 time Tour de France winner Bernard Hinault wipe out in a crit in San Francisco, and saw a few other stages in California and Colorado. It was awesome. Of course I don’t expect the same caliber of riders here, but it should still be a lot of fun. And, I look forward to dragging my wife and daughter out there to turn them on to the excitement of bike racing.
[quote=“Mother Theresa”]I’ll try to make it over there. Where will you meet?
Incidentally, I haven’t watched a good bike race in years, but I used to get really excited about the Coors Classic, about a decade ago, which was a first-class international race with many stages across the US (I believe it was later cancelled, sadly, because they could no longer afford the insurance). I saw 3 time Tour de France winner Bernard Hinault wipe out in a crit in San Francisco, and saw a few other stages in California and Colorado. It was awesome. Of course I don’t expect the same caliber of riders here, but it should still be a lot of fun. And, I look forward to dragging my wife and daughter out there to turn them on to the excitement of bike racing.[/quote]
Meeting either at Kunyang MRT at 9am or at Nangang exhibition center (not sure exactly where at the center) at 9.30am.
cfimages, thanks for the link to the website. I have tried looking for it but been unable to find it.
For those in Taipei the criteriums in Nangang and Taipei City Hall on Saturday and Sunday will be a good chance to get close to the action. Friday’s stage will start and finish at the Taipei County Government Building in Banqiao. The course goes from Banqiao through Xinzhuang to Guandu and Danshui. Then the race goes along the north coast to the turn around at Cape Bitou. The race returns via the same route with a finish in Banqiao. According the the website the start and finish times are 10:00am and 1:12pm.
[quote=“Mother Theresa”]I’ll try to make it over there. Where will you meet?
Incidentally, I haven’t watched a good bike race in years, but I used to get really excited about the Coors Classic, about a decade ago, which was a first-class international race with many stages across the US (I believe it was later cancelled, sadly, because they could no longer afford the insurance). … [/quote]
Coors Classic … canceled? Jeez, why would that be? Too many drunk cyclists at the arriving at the finish probably …
[quote=“Belgian Pie”][quote=“Mother Theresa”]I’ll try to make it over there. Where will you meet?
Incidentally, I haven’t watched a good bike race in years, but I used to get really excited about the Coors Classic, about a decade ago, which was a first-class international race with many stages across the US (I believe it was later cancelled, sadly, because they could no longer afford the insurance). … [/quote]
Coors Classic … canceled? Jeez, why would that be? Too many drunk cyclists at the arriving at the finish probably … [/quote]
Ha, ha. Actually, despite the name, it started with Red Zinger tea. It also was the 4th largest bike race in the world at one time, was won by greats such as Greg Lemond, Bernard Hinault, Raul Alcala and Davis Phinney, and helped launch the careers of many great cyclists. Unfortunately it only ran from 1979-88. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coors_Classic
For example, check out this stage of a road race in Boulder, CO with Lemond, Hinault and Phil Anderson. youtube.com/watch?v=1OAlyKP6scE
