Cantwell wins at Taichung Metropolitan Park

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The Tour de Taiwan was able to welcome WorldTour teams for the first time this year thanks to its elevation to UCI 2.1 level, and Saxo Bank honoured that invitation by winning stage 4 in Taichung with new recruit Jonathan Cantwell.

Another Australian, Rhys Pollock (Drapac), increased his lead in the overall classification by two seconds over second-placed Wong Kam Po, after picking up time bonuses on the road.

The stage came down to a bunch sprint in the world’s capital of bicycle and component manufacturing. “We always knew that that today’s would be an aggressive race again,” Cantwell explained. “But we had the first real bunch sprint of the Tour de Taiwan, so it gave me the opportunity to go head to head with [Italian sprint specialist Roberto] Ferrari. We were very determined to get a victory here. This is officially Saxo Bank’s first win of the year. It comes at a perfect time after all we’ve endured recently.”

Alberto Contador’s two stage wins at the Tour of San Luis were stripped off the record books after the announcement in February of the decision by the Court of Arbitration in Sport to suspend him. “I’m very proud to deliver for Saxo Bank,” Cantwell continued. “I’m grateful to these guys to ride at the front for me and to the team to have given me the opportunity to join the World Tour at the age of 30. It shows that cyclists are never too old to perform. We all must keep trying. I’ve had a few ups and downs with a few teams, so I got used to never giving up.”

Jittery Joe, the American team he rode for in 2008, folded, but his biggest disappointment was the fiasco of the Pegasus project that he thought would take him to the WorldTour in 2011. He’s been very successful on the domestic scene in Australia, where he claimed the national title for criteriums in 2011, as well as in the USA, where he was a regular winner in the 2009 and 2010 seasons. A natural sprinter, he has the potential to light up the dark days of Saxo Bank. “I’ve got good climbing and sprinting legs after the training camp we had in Mallorca,” the rider from the Gold Coast noted. “Climbs in the Tour de Taiwan don’t seem to be too hard. To finish such a stage race in the top ten would be nice, but we’re definitely here to win stages.”

With three stages to go, Pollock eyes at the overall victory closer and closer. He’ll defend the yellow jersey on his 32nd birthday during stage 5. “After 58km there was an intermediate sprint,” the Australian explained. “A Korean [Terengganu’s Jang Chan Jae] jumped away and I seized the opportunity to take the second place and the two-second bonus. Obviously, any time is difficult to gain but very easy to lose. The Tour de Taiwan can be won or lost by a second.”

Stage 2 winner Wong Kam Po promised his fans that he’ll now pay more attention to the intermediate sprints. “With the position I’m in now, bunch sprint finishes till the end would be good”, Pollock said. Cantwell also aims for more before returning to Europe and possibly having his first attempt at Paris-Roubaix.