2010 Tour de Korea



Bailsibub

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Jun 7, 2007
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I won it!!!


SoloingtoVictoryatStage6.jpg


Here I am on Stage 6. Before this day, on Stage 2, I had broken away with a former pro and multiple Tour de Korea winner, putting 45 seconds into the entire field. Stage 2 ended with a 20-km bridge that took us out to an island (with a crosswind that beat everyone down) and back to the coast (where it became a tailwind ;)). But when we approached the finish, they weren't expecting us so soon, and there were cones blocking the sprint. They awarded my breakaway mate the win (he's Korean!) ha ha ha. So he got a 4-second time bonus on me.

So on stage 6, I knew I had to attack. I crested the last mountain with the King of the Mountains and we proceeded to TT it 25 km to the finish. However, 10 km from the finish, I rode him off my wheel and soloed in, moving into the yellow jersey with a 36-second lead.

But the drama didn't end.

On stage 7, the weather changed rapidly, going from cloudy and in the high 40's to freezing temperatures with freezing rain and snow during the course of the stage! I was hypothermic and don't remember anything of the last 20 km of the stage. Luckily, I got great care (and also the next day was a rest day). I struggled some, but I was able to bounce back and defend the jersey until we arrived at the finish here in Seoul on Sunday. :D

PodiumChampagne.jpg


ClimbingNamsanonStage9.jpg


PullingupNamsanonthelaststage.jpg


OnthepodiuminSeoul.jpg


I said it last year, and I'll say it again...10-day stage races are hard. We had a professional nutrionist preparing our food, and I ate like a horse...to the point of discomfort sometimes. But I still lost weight. And you have to be able to manage your emotions well because it's really easy to choke and make mistakes (as I saw some of my competitors do). There's also a degree of luck involved. Most riders had crashes at some point. On stage 1, I was hit in the arm by a flying bike but didn't go down. The arm was sore for a couple days, but I had no other mishaps. In this race, I call that lucky!

This is certainly my best win ever.
 
Congrats.

... but I thought some dude from Jelly Belly won. Confused is I.
 
swampy1970 said:
Congrats.

... but I thought some dude from Jelly Belly won. Confused is I.
Two races

Tour de Korea Elite

Tour de Korea Special, Bailsibub is 'special':p (wow is that demeaning or what:eek:)
 
Bailsibub said:
I was hypothermic and don't remember anything of the last 20 km of the stage. Luckily,
.
Yes people, he does not lie, there was snow a plenty.
29047_391073417730_644322730_3863996_660240_n.jpg
 
Right Jono, Mike won the elite event. And I won the special event. (I don't think they call it 'special' to be demeaning...it's probably just that their English isn't that advanced....)

Anyway, an American had never won either event, and he and I won both!

Much respect to Mike on his ride by the way. He drove a break with a teammate on that cold, rainy/snowy day to get in yellow. Then for the remaining stages, he held off some great riders on some high mountains, an awesome feat for someone with his build. He's a classy guy. He worked hard, and he definitely earned the win.
 
Bailsibub said:
Right Jono, Mike won the elite event. And I won the special event. (I don't think they call it 'special' to be demeaning...it's probably just that their English isn't that advanced....)
.
Yeh I know that. Just taking the ****.

You'll have to race the big one next year then:)
 
Jono L said:
Yeh I know that. Just taking the ****.

You'll have to race the big one next year then:)

How'd you go? recovering alright from the injuries?
 
steve said:
How'd you go? recovering alright from the injuries?
Yeh all good. Was fun. Bloody hard that's for sure. there's a bunch of jaded ramblings on my blog if you feel like procrastinating some work or something:D

Other than that my summary is,
Good on flats, front group every stage (usually peleton anyway..) until stage 7, missed a split, lost time. Then took more of a back seat trying to get some breakaway action and not really conserving anymore. Also, I ate more seafood than I thought humanly possible, it was great.
 

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