Tour of Korea - 2.5

Korea, May 11-16, 2003

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Stage 5 - May 15: Yang Yang - Yang Yang, 135 km

Kam Po Wong by 5 seconds on tough stage

By Mikkeli Godfree

Kam Po Wong
Photo: © Mikkeli Godfree

With a 30km climb from the start, Stage 5 was always going to be interesting. Most riders were warmed up for the start, anticipating another fast start. They were not disappointed as from the first kilometre, the raced headed upwards, into some of the most beautiful mountain areas South Korea has to offer.

The scenery was the last thing on the riders' minds though as a group of 11 moved away in the first 10km. This lead was short-lived however and the bunch reeled them back in only to see the Iranian Giant Asia climbing specialist, Ghader Mizbani, charge up the road with no-one able to respond. Mizbani soon established a healthy lead as the road snaked up to 1000m above sea-level. The climb was spectacular, winding back on itself, all able to monitor Mizbani's progress as he motored on, switch-backs ahead.

With 100km of flat and windy riding between this first KOM and the finish, there was little chance of a climber taking the victory and on the hairy descent, a front group of 17 established itself. Behind, the race convoy was a mess. In the first kilometre of the descent we all came screeching around a corner sideways in an attempt to dodge the Giant Asia team car which stopped in the middle of the road to pull Chris Carr from down an embankment. The fourth place GC rider had over-cooked it and had opted for a heart-stopping off-road landing rather than a skin-ripping on-road one. Shaken and stirred he remounted and finished over 23 mins down, slipping to 27th place on GC, his only consolation was the knowledge that he had played a major role in securing the GC lead for Chadwick, especially on stage 3.

With Carr out of the picture, the front group set about making the race. The group contained all the other GC contenders but still up for grabs was the stage win and the most interesting battle for the team prize. With only two Giant Asia riders in the front group, the three Marco Polo riders pushed the pace in the hope of taking the team classification. Similarly, with four riders, the Kazakhs offered their assistance as they consolidated their third-placing. This work pushed the leaders to over 4 mins up the road from a chasing group of 11 which had formed on the first descent.

Great scenery
Photo: © Mikkeli Godfree

With 30km to go, the race left the hills and headed back down the coast, following the same route as the previous day. A headwind buffeted the riders around and ensured there were no attacks until they entered the last 10km. The riders became frisky and with the Kazakhs, Marco Polo and Seoul City all having at least three riders, the other riders in the break were at a disadvantage.

Sure enough, with 4 km remaining, the previous race leader, Wong (Marco Polo) went clear with Suh (Seoul City). The break chased and held the two at 150m. With 2km to go, Aitken (Team MGZT) tried to break the elastic but was marked heavily by the Kazakhs. The counter attack came from Bushanskiy (Kazakhstan) and he quickly started to ride across to Wong and Suh. With 1200m to go, Aitken attacked again and this time looked to have the gap as he pursued the front three.

By the line, Wong had sealed a great victory over Suh with Bushanskiy in third whilst Aitken was swallowed with metres to go as Lavrenenko (Kazakhstan) followed his team mate in to take fourth. However, before the presentation, the result would change dramatically with Suh being disqualified for hanging onto a team car on the first climb. This gave the Kazakhs second and third on the podium with Wong making amends for losing his yellow jersey as he took the stage and moved up into fourth place on GC.

Chadwick, meanwhile, maintained his healthy lead in the GC, and will head into tomorrow's criterium with a 1min 15sec buffer over Carter and a 2min 58sec lead over Aitken.

Photography

Images by Mikkeli Godfree

Kairat Baigudinov (Orbea Exte-Ondo) before the start
Kam Po Wong (Marco Polo) looking forward to a profitable day
The early break goes on the first climb
Near the top of the climb the field was scattered along the road
Giant Asia rider Redenbach tows Carr back into contention moments before the latter crashed on the descent, ruining his GC chances
Road-side workers take a break to cheer the race on
The chase group of 11 rips down the second descent
The lead group hit the outskirts of Yang Yang
Behind, Redenbach and Gatto (Team MGZT) drive the chase group
Joel Pearson (Team MGZT) wins the chase-group sprint for 17th.
Locals look to see what all the commotion is about.
Suh was happy with second before being informed of his disqualification
Chadwick and Redenbach discuss the race
Wong shows what position he finished
Wong again in the stage-winner's jersey
Glen Chadwick salutes the troops
Mike Carter recovers seemingly content with his second place on GC

Results

1 Kam Po Wong (HKg) Marco Polo            3.21.13
2 Vladmir Bushanskiy (Kaz) Kazakhstan        0.05
3 Sergey Lavrenenko (Kaz) Kazakhstan         0.10
4 Glen Chadwick (Aus) Giant Asia 
5 Seoung Pek Bak (Kor) Seoul City
6 Kuan Hua Lai (Tpe) Chinese Taipei
7 Vadim Kravchenko (Kaz) Kazakhstan
8 Kairat Baigudinov (Kaz) Orbea Exte-Ondo
9 Yuriy Plyukhin (Uzb) Uzbekistan
10 Bakhtiyar Mamyrov (Kaz) Orbea Exte-Ondo
11 Ghader Mizbani (Aus) Giant Asia
12 Sergey Tretyakov (Kaz) Kazakhstan
13 Cory Lange (Can) Marco Polo
14 Michael Carter (USA) Marco Polo
15 Brett Aitken (Aus) Team MGZT

General classification after stage 5

1 Glen Chadwick (Aus) Giant Asia         17.29.53
2 Michael Carter (USA) Marco Polo            1.14
3 Brett Aitken (Aus) Team MGZT               2.58
4 Kam Po Wong (HKg) Marco Polo               3.47
5 Sergei Lavrenenko (Kaz) Kazakhstan         4.23
6 Sergei Tretyakov (Kaz) Kazakhstan          4.50
7 Kairat Baigudinov (Kaz) Orbea Exte-Ondo    4.54
8 Ghader Mizibani (Aus) Giant Asia           5.17
9 Seoung Pek Bak (Kor) Seoul City            6.20
10 Bakhtiyar Mamrov (Kaz) Orbea Exte-Ondo    6.34
11 Vladimir Bushanskiy (Kaz) Kazakhstan      6.44
12 Vadim Kravchenko (Kaz) Kazakhstan         6.54
13 Yuriy Plyukjhin (Uzb) Uzbekistan          8.13
14 Paul Redenbach (Aus) Giant Asia           9.47
15 Domenic Gatto (Aus) Team MGZT            10.32