Rogers rockets to stage win

New Zealand's Rico Rogers (Giant Kenda Cycling Team) prevailed in the field sprint deciding stage seven after a textbook lead-out from teammate and defending Tour de Taiwan champion David McCann. Rogers topped Wei-Cheng Lee (Action Cycling Team) and race leader Mehdi Sohrabi (Tabriz Petrochemical Team) for the victory in Kaohsiung.

"My condition was not good in the first couple of days as I was struggling with a cold. But today, David [McCann] led me out perfectly to a good position and I just went for it. It was good teamwork all around," said Rico.

Mehdi Sohrabi (Tabriz Petrochemical Team) remains in the overall lead and added a further two seconds to his advantage over teammate Markus Eibegger on general classification. The Iranian leads Eibegger by six seconds while David McCann holds third overall, 24 seconds off the pace.

"Another good day, another good race, so we will see whether I can still keep the jersey tomorrow or on the last day of the race [into Taipei City]," said Sohrabi.

Last year's champion David McCann believes he can still win this year's Tour de Taiwan, however. "I don't think that he (Sohrabi) can win it. At the last stage there's a final climb [up Yangmingshan, a Cat. 1)] which I think I can win with more than a minute advantage," said McCann. "I'm more concerned with Markus [Eibegger]. He is a good climber and I think that he will pose the bigger threat [to my title defence]."

With no KOMs on the day, Sohrabi also retains the king of the mountain's lead as well as the blue jersey for the best-ranked Asian rider.