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Tour of Siam - 2.2
Thailand, January 20-25, 2007
Main Page Results Overall standings Next Stage
Stage 1 - January 20: Suphanburi – Bung Chawak – Don Chedi, 128.9 km
Dutch win in Thailand
By Laszlo Szilasi, in Bung Chawak.
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Thailand's most prestigous cycling race, Tour of Siam started today with an 155 km opening stage with the start and finish in the historical city of Suphanburi. The town - which is located about 100 km north of Bangkok - held a very nice opening ceremony for riders, where local dance and music groups encouraged by the crowd to get into the atmosphere.
The race took of downtown at 10 am with the first 5.5 kilometres a neutral section in the city. After the real start, attacks began immediately, as was predicted. Lots of riders tried to break into smaller groups, but never got too far from the peloton. After the first intermediate sprint at kilometre 35, 17 riders formed a break.
About half of the participating teams were represented, so it semeed that could be the break of the day. When the lead group had a one-minute advantage, the main bunch started to react, with several teams making turns on the front. The next 20 kilometres was around lake Bung Chawan, which contrsained some very tricky roads with lots of twist and turns. The peloton, which started to lose some riders, couldn't gain back time on the leaders, so halfway into the stage the lead group had a advantage of nearly two minutes. Though the riders didnt make the most of this opportunity to put time into the bunch as they didnt work too well together.
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Around 100 kilometres into the stage the japanese Nippo team decide to start the chase, even though they had just one rider in the front group. They were travelling around 60km/h for a long distance, which made life harder for some others at the back of the bunch. The gap started to come down slowly and when the race arrived to the Don Chedi monument, 25 kilometres from the finish, the leaders had only a 30 second lead. At this point some strong riders attacked from the lead group, which blew apart.
With 15 km remaining a lead group of seven riders was off the front, with the other riders falling back into the peloton. Just five kilometres later, with the finish line nearing, the remaining seven riders had been caught by the peloton.
Another three riders tried a last minute escape, but at the end a bunch sprint decided today's stage, which was won in a close finish by Holland's Ger Soepenberg (Altipower), followed by Russian Sergey Kudentsov (Marco Polo) and Japan's Takashi Miyazawa in the third position.
"This is my first race in Asia, so it's a really good start. We came here for training, so todays win is a really nice surprise," said Soepenberg, who earned 28000 Baht (around 7000 USD) for his team with the win. "The stage was fast and the heat made it even more difficult. I will try to keep the yellow jersey as long as I can. I'm not a real climber but I can come over the shorter hills good."
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Third place Miyazawa was a bit dissapointed, after his team was the driving force behind catching the 17 men breakaway.
"It's true that we had one rider in the front group, but we knew that he is not very good in the sprint," explained Miyazawa. "That's why we decided to chase and we hoped that some other teams would have helped us. At the beggining three Australian riders did some turns, but after that we had to do all the work on our own. Maybe we spent a bit too much energy today, I had strong cramps in the final. Our team leader is Fukushima so I will work for him in the next couple of days."
Giant Asia rider Ryan Connor returned to the race for a third time and was again impressed by the local people's attitude to the race by turning out in huge numbers along the route with Thailand flags, supporting the local riders as well as the foreigners.
After the stage riders were transferred to the city of Kanchanaburi, which is at the coast of the famous Kwai river.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Francis Cerny
- Chinese rider Xing Yan Dong (Discovery Channel Marco Polo Team) was present in the main break
- The peloton riding towards Suphan Buri in the first stage.
- The peloton in the Tour de Siam in Thailand passing a rice field and some banana trees
- Nathan Dahlberg and his wife Linna Zhang before the start of the Tour de Siam in Thailand.
- Discovery Channel Marco Polo Team with some beautiful Thailand girls
Results
1 Ger Soepenberg (Ned) Altipower 3.24.42 2 Sergey Kudentsov (Rus) Discovery Channel Marco Polo Team 3 Takashi Miyazawa (Jpn) Nippo Meitan 4 Morten Christiansen (Den) Glud & Marstand Horsens 5 Sander Lormans (Ned) Ruiter Dakkapellen Wielerteam 6 Artemiy Timofeev (Rus) Polygon Sweet Nice 7 Lex Nederlof (Ned) Ruiter Dakkapellen Wielerteam 8 Jittipong Tongkumnueng (Tha) Royal Thai Air Force 9 Shinichi Fukushima (Jpn) Nippo Meitan 10 Manan Anuar (Mas) Le Tua 11 Darren Harry (Aus) City of Perth 12 Haidar Ahmad (Mas) Le Tua 13 Jai Crawford (Aus) Giant A.R.T 14 Thanawat Samana (Tha) Siam Bara Cycling Team 15 Michael Berling (Den) Glud & Marstand Horsens 16 Mumuh Muhsin (Ina) Benteng Muda Tangerang 17 Hai Jun Ma (Chn) Qinghai Team 18 Radius Ginting (Ina) Benteng Muda Tangerang 19 Prajak Mahawong (Tha) Siam Bara Cycling Team 20 Amir Zargari (Irn) Azad University 21 A. Rahman Md Asril (Mas) Le Tua 22 Ekachai Tawonlumlerd (Tha) Royal Thai Air Force 23 Masahiro Shinagawa (Jpn) Skil Shimano 24 Okart Bualoi (Tha) Sin Kit Paiboon Lohakarn Royal Sky 25 Yukihiro Doi (Jpn) Skil Shimano 26 Panupun Koonruengreangkig (Tha) Royal Thai Air Force 27 Yuan Hui Melvin Kow (Sin) Singapore National Team 28 Abdullah Riza Pahlani (Ina) Polygon Sweet Nice 29 Jirawat Sinthupoon (Tha) Royal Thai Police 30 Montri Chompuviset (Tha) Royal Thai Air Force 31 Pol Nabben (Ned) Discovery Channel Marco Polo Team 32 Kin San Wu (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 33 Steve Mouritze (Aus) City of Perth 34 Puchong Saiudomsil (Tha) Siam Bara Cycling Team 35 Hilton Mc.Murdo (Aus) City of Perth 36 Chek Piew Larry Boo (Sin) Singapore National Team 37 Jirod Wisuhiran (Tha) Sin Kit Paiboon Lohakarn Royal Sky 38 Jakkapong Supannapong (Tha) Siam Bara Cycling Team 39 Saree Ruangsiri (Tha) Royal Thai Navy 40 Peter Van Agtmaal (Ned) Altipower 41 Jared Bunde (USA) Champion System Sommerville Sports 42 Wang Yip Tang (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 43 Xing Yan Dong (Chn) Discovery Channel Marco Polo Team 44 Robert Wijaya (Ina) Polygon Sweet Nice 45 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Nippo Meitan 46 Rudy Vriend (Ned) Ruiter Dakkapellen Wielerteam 47 Vyascheslav Dyadichkin (Kaz) Polygon Sweet Nice 48 Yevgeniy Yakovlev (Kaz) Polygon Sweet Nice 49 Thiijs Zonneveld (Ned) Discovery Channel Marco Polo Team 50 Brad Hall (Aus) City of Perth 51 Cor Van Leeuwen (Ned) Ruiter Dakkapellen Wielerteam 52 Stefan Rothe (Ger) Champion System Sommerville Sports 53 Iman Suparman (Ina) Benteng Muda Tangerang 54 Chun Hing Chan (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 55 Mohamed Fadzil Bin Hayof (Sin) Singapore National Team 56 Wai Man Chau (HKg) Champion System Sommerville Sports 57 Paul Griffin (Irl) Giant A.R.T 58 Hidenori Nodera (Jpn) Skil Shimano 59 Hossein Askari (Irn) Giant A.R.T 60 Zainal Mdnor Rizuan (Mas) Le Tua 61 Jacob Nielsen (Den) Glud & Marstand Horsens 62 Ryan Connor (Irl) Giant A.R.T 63 Muhammad Toufiq (Ina) Benteng Muda Tangerang 64 Miyataka Shimizu (Jpn) Nippo Meitan 65 Tanet Pitthayathonlert (Tha) Sin Kit Paiboon Lohakarn Royal Sky 66 Kui Song (Chn) Qinghai Team 67 Sumet Sorrasak (Tha) Royal Thai Navy 68 Kam Po Wong (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 69 Ghader Mizbani (Irn) Giant A.R.T 70 Rosdi Mdnor Umardi (Mas) Le Tua 71 Yoshimasa Hirose (Jpn) Skil Shimano 72 Sirous Hashemzadeh (Irn) Azad University 73 Wen Jun Daniel Loy (Sin) Singapore National Team 74 Mehdi Faridikoevj (Irn) Azad University 75 Koji Fukushima (Jpn) Nippo Meitan 76 Yuttaporn Hintao (Tha) Royal Thai Navy 77 Thomas Benicvengo (USA) Champion System Sommerville Sports 78 Tomoya Kano (Jpn) Skil Shimano 79 Kurniawan (Ina) Benteng Muda Tangerang 80 Ford Will (Aus) Australian National Track Endurance 81 Menno De Boer (Ned) Ruiter Dakkapellen Wielerteam 82 Zakkari Dempster (Aus) Australian National Track Endurance 83 Jatupoom Lakawata (Tha) Royal Thai Army 84 Nutthapon Cheepthaworn (Tha) Sin Kit Paiboon Lohakarn Royal Sky 85 Stephen Wooldridge (Aus) Australian National Track Endurance 86 Nathan Dahlberg (NZl) Altipower 87 Jamsran Ulzil-Orshikh (Mgl) Discovery Channel Marco Polo Team 88 Anno Pedersen (Ned) Altipower 89 Thijs Poelstra (Ned) Altipower 90 Pinkeaw Pornthep (Tha) Siam Bara Cycling Team 91 Junaidi Bin Hashim (Sin) Singapore National Team 92 David Sommerville (USA) Champion System Sommerville Sports 93 Phillip Thauax (Aus) Australian National Track Endurance 94 Kai Tsun Lam (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 95 Mark Pederson (Aus) City of Perth 96 Abbas Saeiditanha (Irn) Azad University 97 Peter Dawson (Aus) Australian National Track Endurance 0.37 98 Rune Udby (Den) Glud & Marstand Horsens 99 Nicolaj Olesen (Den) Glud & Marstand Horsens 7.49 100 S. Mostafa S. Rezaei. (Irn) Azad University 10.24 101 Sheng Jun Wu (Chn) Qinghai Team 16.49 102 Biao Liu (Chn) Qinghai Team 16.51 General classification after stage 1 1 Ger Soepenberg (Ned) Altipower 3.24.42 2 Sergey Kudentsov (Rus) Discovery Channel Marco Polo Team 3 Takashi Miyazawa (Jpn) Nippo Meitan 4 Zakkari Dempster (Aus) Australian National Track Endurance 5 Haidar Ahmad (Mas) Le Tua 6 Phillip Thauax (Aus) Australian National Track Endurance 7 Jacob Nielsen (Den) Glud & Marstand Horsens 8 Morten Christiansen (Den) Glud & Marstand Horsens 9 Sander Lormans (Ned) Ruiter Dakkapellen Wielerteam 10 Artemiy Timofeev (Rus) Polygon Sweet Nice 11 Lex Nederlof (Ned) Ruiter Dakkapellen Wielerteam 12 Jittipong Tongkumnueng (Tha) Royal Thai Air Force 13 Shinichi Fukushima (Jpn) Nippo Meitan 14 Manan Anuar (Mas) Le Tua 15 Darren Harry (Aus) City of Perth 16 Jai Crawford (Aus) Giant A.R.T 17 Thanawat Samana (Tha) Siam Bara Cycling Team 18 Michael Berling (Den) Glud & Marstand Horsens 19 Mumuh Muhsin (Ina) Benteng Muda Tangerang 20 Hai Jun Ma (Chn) Qinghai Team 21 Radius Ginting (Ina) Benteng Muda Tangerang 22 Prajak Mahawong (Tha) Siam Bara Cycling Team 23 Amir Zargari (Irn) Azad University 24 A. Rahman Md Asril (Mas) Le Tua 25 Ekachai Tawonlumlerd (Tha) Royal Thai Air Force 26 Masahiro Shinagawa (Jpn) Skil Shimano 27 Okart Bualoi (Tha) Sin Kit Paiboon Lohakarn Royal Sky 28 Yukihiro Doi (Jpn) Skil Shimano 29 Panupun Koonruengreangkig (Tha) Royal Thai Air Force 30 Yuan Hui Melvin Kow (Sin) Singapore National Team 31 Abdullah Riza Pahlani (Ina) Polygon Sweet Nice 32 Jirawat Sinthupoon (Tha) Royal Thai Police 33 Montri Chompuviset (Tha) Royal Thai Air Force 34 Pol Nabben (Ned) Discovery Channel Marco Polo Team 35 Kin San Wu (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 36 Steve Mouritze (Aus) City of Perth 37 Puchong Saiudomsil (Tha) Siam Bara Cycling Team 38 Hilton Mc.Murdo (Aus) City of Perth 39 Chek Piew Larry Boo (Sin) Singapore National Team 40 Jirod Wisuhiran (Tha) Sin Kit Paiboon Lohakarn Royal Sky 41 Jakkapong Supannapong (Tha) Siam Bara Cycling Team 42 Saree Ruangsiri (Tha) Royal Thai Navy 43 Peter Van Agtmaal (Ned) Altipower 44 Jared Bunde (USA) Champion System Sommerville Sports 45 Wang Yip Tang (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 46 Xing Yan Dong (Chn) Discovery Channel Marco Polo Team 47 Robert Wijaya (Ina) Polygon Sweet Nice 48 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Nippo Meitan 49 Rudy Vriend (Ned) Ruiter Dakkapellen Wielerteam 50 Vyascheslav Dyadichkin (Kaz) Polygon Sweet Nice 51 Yevgeniy Yakovlev (Kaz) Polygon Sweet Nice 52 Thiijs Zonneveld (Ned) Discovery Channel Marco Polo Team 53 Brad Hall (Aus) City of Perth 54 Cor Van Leeuwen (Ned) Ruiter Dakkapellen Wielerteam 55 Stefan Rothe (Ger) Champion System Sommerville Sports 56 Iman Suparman (Ina) Benteng Muda Tangerang 57 Chun Hing Chan (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 58 Mohamed Fadzil Bin Hayof (Sin) Singapore National Team 59 Wai Man Chau (HKg) Champion System Sommerville Sports 60 Paul Griffin (Irl) Giant A.R.T 61 Hidenori Nodera (Jpn) Skil Shimano 62 Hossein Askari (Irn) Giant A.R.T 63 Zainal Mdnor Rizuan (Mas) Le Tua 64 Ryan Connor (Irl) Giant A.R.T 65 Muhammad Toufiq (Ina) Benteng Muda Tangerang 66 Miyataka Shimizu (Jpn) Nippo Meitan 67 Tanet Pitthayathonlert (Tha) Sin Kit Paiboon Lohakarn Royal Sky 68 Kui Song (Chn) Qinghai Team 69 Sumet Sorrasak (Tha) Royal Thai Navy 70 Kam Po Wong (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 71 Ghader Mizbani (Irn) Giant A.R.T 72 Rosdi Mdnor Umardi (Mas) Le Tua 73 Yoshimasa Hirose (Jpn) Skil Shimano 74 Sirous Hashemzadeh (Irn) Azad University 75 Wen Jun Daniel Loy (Sin) Singapore National Team 76 Mehdi Faridikoevj (Irn) Azad University 77 Koji Fukushima (Jpn) Nippo Meitan 78 Yuttaporn Hintao (Tha) Royal Thai Navy 79 Thomas Benicvengo (USA) Champion System Sommerville Sports 80 Tomoya Kano (Jpn) Skil Shimano 81 Kurniawan (Ina) Benteng Muda Tangerang 82 Ford Will (Aus) Australian National Track Endurance 83 Menno De Boer (Ned) Ruiter Dakkapellen Wielerteam 84 Jatupoom Lakawata (Tha) Royal Thai Army 85 Nutthapon Cheepthaworn (Tha) Sin Kit Paiboon Lohakarn Royal Sky 86 Stephen Wooldridge (Aus) Australian National Track Endurance 87 Nathan Dahlberg (NZl) Altipower 88 Jamsran Ulzil-Orshikh (Mgl) Discovery Channel Marco Polo Team 89 Anno Pedersen (Ned) Altipower 90 Thijs Poelstra (Ned) Altipower 91 Pinkeaw Pornthep (Tha) Siam Bara Cycling Team 92 Junaidi Bin Hashim (Sin) Singapore National Team 93 David Sommerville (USA) Champion System Sommerville Sports 94 Kai Tsun Lam (HKg) Hong Kong Pro Cycling 95 Mark Pederson (Aus) City of Perth 96 Abbas Saeiditanha (Irn) Azad University 97 Rune Udby (Den) Glud & Marstand Horsens 98 Peter Dawson (Aus) Australian National Track Endurance 0.33 99 Nicolaj Olesen (Den) Glud & Marstand Horsens 7.49 100 S. Mostafa S. Rezaei. (Irn) Azad University 10.24 101 Sheng Jun Wu (Chn) Qinghai Team 16.49 102 Biao Liu (Chn) Qinghai Team 16.51 Points classification 1 Ger Soepenberg (Ned) Altipower 16 pts 2 Sergey Kudentsov (Rus) Discovery Channel Marco Polo Team 14 3 Takashi Miyazawa (Jpn) Nippo Meitan 13 4 Morten Christiansen (Den) Glud & Marstand Horsens 12 5 Sander Lormans (Ned) Ruiter Dakkapellen Wielerteam 11 6 Artemiy Timofeev (Rus) Polygon Sweet Nice 10 7 Lex Nederlof (Ned) Ruiter Dakkapellen Wielerteam 9 8 Jittipong Tongkumnueng (Tha) Royal Thai Air Force 8 9 Haidar Ahmad (Mas) Le Tua 7 10 Shinichi Fukushima (Jpn) Nippo Meitan 7 11 Peter Dawson (Aus) Australian National Track Endurance 6 12 Manan Anuar (Mas) Le Tua 6 13 Zakkari Dempster (Aus) Australian National Track Endurance 5 14 Darren Harry (Aus) City of Perth 5 15 Phillip Thauax (Aus) Australian National Track Endurance 3 16 Jai Crawford (Aus) Giant A.R.T 3 17 Thanawat Samana (Tha) Siam Bara Cycling Team 2 18 Jacob Nielsen (Den) Glud & Marstand Horsens 1 19 Michael Berling (Den) Glud & Marstand Horsens 1 Best Asian rider classification 1 Haidar Ahmad (Mas) Le Tua 3.24.40 2 Jittipong Tongkumnueng (Tha) Royal Thai Air Force 0.02 3 Manan Anuar (Mas) Le Tua 4 Thanawat Samana (Tha) Siam Bara Cycling Team 5 Mumuh Muhsin (Ina) Benteng Muda Tangerang 6 Radius Ginting (Ina) Benteng Muda Tangerang 7 Prajak Mahawong (Tha) Siam Bara Cycling Team 8 A. Rahman Md Asril (Mas) Le Tua 9 Ekachai Tawonlumlerd (Tha) Royal Thai Air Force 10 Okart Bualoi (Tha) Sin Kit Paiboon Lohakarn Royal Sky Teams classification 1 Le Tua 10.14.06 2 Royal Thai Air Force 3 Nippo Meitan 4 Ruiter Dakkapellen Wielerteam 5 Siam Bara Cycling Team 6 Discovery Channel Marco Polo Team 7 Polygon Sweet Nice 8 City Of Perth 9 Glud & Marstand Horsens 10 Benteng Muda Tangerang 11 Skil Shimano 12 Singapore National Cycling Team 13 Sin Kit Paiboon Lohakarn Royal Sky 14 Altipower 15 Hong Kong Pro Cycling 16 Giant A.R.T 17 Champion System Sommerville Sports 18 Azad University 19 Royal Thai Navy 20 Australian National Track Endurance 21 Qinghai Team 16.49
