Tour de Taiwan: Giacoppo too good in Kanpanzan

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Australia’s Anthony Giacoppo (Genesys Wealth Advisers) has scored his second stage win in three days at the 2012 Tour de Taiwan as he outsprinted Italy's Roberto Ferrari (Androni Giocattoli) at the top of Kanpanzan in Taoyuan County. His compatriot Rhys Pollock (Drapac Cycling) took over from Saxo Bank’s Takashi Miyazawa in the lead of the overall classification.

Once breakaway veterans Shinichi Fukushima (Terengganu Cycling Team) and Lee Rodgers (RTS Racing), got caught with 6km to go, the most notable action was the gap created by Cameron Wurf (Champion System) at the real top of the final climb, which was located 500 metres before the finishing line.

“I thought I got it”, regretted the former Australian rower who got caught and crashed with only 25 metres to go on the barricades behind Saufi (Terengganu). However, his compatriot Giacoppo had made the break in the downhill. Even Ferrari couldn’t come across to him despite his famous natural speed.

“Coming into the finish, one of my team-mates rode right at the front and another one tried to go away”, Giacoppo explained. The Genesys team protected the winner of stage one but had bigger plans for former U23 national champion Ben Dyball. However, the 10km climb to Kanpanzan didn’t create as much of a selection as expected, so it came down to a sprint finish for almost forty riders.

“I don’t really know myself as a rider yet”, Giacoppo admitted. “After stage one in Taipei, people said that all I can win is criteriums, so to win a mountain top finish here - I couldn’t be happier.” He was delighted to realize that the runner up was no less than Ferrari who got three top 5 at the Giro d’Italia last year.

“It’s always good to beat such a renowned rider. It’s a confidence booster for sure. We as a team came here to try and get stage wins. The GC is not over yet but our goal remains the stage wins.”

As Miyazawa finished in the second group, the yellow jersey is now on the shoulders of another Australian, Rhys Pollock, who holds the same time as stage two winner Wang Kam Po. “It wasn’t a goal as such to get into the lead today”, he noted two days ahead of his 32nd birthday.

“We rode fairly easy after the first climb. Luckily, the final climb wasn’t steep. I’m definitely not a climber. My team-mates Adam Semple and Darren Lapthorne are stronger in the hills than I am. Being aggressive during those three days has put me in yellow jersey. It’s not ideal to have the lead with the same time as somebody else but we take it as it is.

“All the riders classified within thirty seconds at the top of the overall classification still have a chance to win the Tour de Taiwan”, confirmed Wang who moved into the lead in the best Asian rider classification. “I believe that European and Australian riders will become stronger than us Asians in the second half of the race.”

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