The Tour de Taiwan cycling race began today with a criterium race along the Love river in Kaohsiung;
40 laps of a 2km loop. Not quite sure how many riders were in the pack, but boy were they moving - 2km in just under 3 minutes is an avg. speed of over 40km/hr!
A beautiful winter day in Kaohsiung for the race too, with clear blue skies and around 25 degrees.
Was great to see so many folks out on their bikes and cheering on the racers.
Notice how close to the action the toddler in the orange pants is!
But, just as I was nervously watching him, my own little guy took a thump on the noggin from a carelessly discarded waterbottle that bounced off the road right into us.
*Also, if you look real close in this shot you can see Kaohsiung’s new public bikes.
Thanks for the pics. Cool.
There are some very good sporting events in Taiwan. While I don’t think this one is for the masses like the Taipei International Marathon is, it is good to see the riders here and the spectators coming out.
Anyone have more info on this race, such as a route map, good place to watch and/or description of where it finishes?
Stage 7 winner Kiendys Tomasz of Merida Europe team.
Crashing
watch either at the turn around point at Baishawan, which is a hard uphill u-turn on the coast road (2), and the closest part to Taipei,
OR watch the start at the Green Bay Hotel carpark (many starts, with different age groups at different times, normally five minutes apart, with the elite and elite masters starting first, i THINK at 7 am) AND THEN drive up the hill a bit from the large service station between JinShan and WanLi to one of several steep turns, such as near the large temple about 2 km from the end. DO NOT try and find a watching spot at the Finish line, as the road is very narrow, and too many cars always park there and make an already bad situation worse, and the road is lined with either a drainage ditch or bushes… whole race is over and done with in about 1:30 - 1:40, the first section of 52 km or whatever is fast at about 45kmh.
and WRT the taipei stage of the ToT: why oh why did Peter macdonald not end up as the overall winner, when he was leading into the race, and finished at the front of the first group (about 3 sec behind the stage winner who had made a great solo break off the pack of 4 about 5 laps to go,. In the final results he was creditied with the same time as the eventual yellow jersey winner… if they have the same time, isn’t the race given to the one who wore the jersey longest? I don’t see how the winner could have made up so many bonus points on Pete.