Shahrul Mat Amin imitates Philippe Gilbert in front of Buddha statue

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Malaysia’s Shahrul Mat Amin proved the predictions wrong as he claimed stage 3 of the 25th Tour de Taiwan in front of the magnificent statue of Baguashan Buddha in Changhua. While Australian fast finishers were expected to win for the second day in a row, the 23-year-old from Terengganu Cycling Team rode away uphill with 250 metres to go and maintained just what was needed to prevent Bernard Sulzberger (Drapac) from overtaking him. Coming in second position for the second day in a row, the Tasmanian also moved up to second overall only one second down on stage 1 winner Kirill Pozdnyakov of Synergy Baku Cycling Project.

It appears that Asian cycling has found a Malaysian version of Philippe Gilbert in Shahrul. “I’m so happy to win here today,” Shahrul said. “I gave everything I had for those last 250 metres. My team-mate Saufi [Mat Senan] rode for me before the sprint. He’s normally our leader. He had to finish in the same time as everyone else to keep his ambitions for a final top 10 on GC. For me, this stage of the Tour de Taiwan is my first time winning a big race. Before that I only performed at category 2 level.”

In the past three seasons, the 2011 Malaysian national champion bagged stage victories at Jelajah Malaysia, Tour of Brunei and Tour d’Indonesia. In Taiwan, he demonstrated that it was by no coincidence that his Terengganu team won the 2012 Asia Tour. Under French coach Sébastien Duclos, they have taken a big step forward. “They were not totally satisfied with their results at Le Tour de Langkawi but I told them it would work as a good preparation for the Tour de Taiwan, so we came here with confidence and motivation,” Duclos told Cyclingnews in Changhua.

The other Asian hero of stage 3 was Feng Chun Kai of Champion System. Racing for a second consecutive win in the king of the mountains after an excellent showing that caught the attention of team manager Ed Beamon at this race last year, the 24-year-old Taiwanese made the first breakaway formed of nine riders before reaching ten kilometers of racing with Daniel Summerhill (Unitedhealthcare), Floris Goesinnen (Drapac), Jai Crawford (Huon-Genesys), Yoshimitsu Hiratsuka (Aisan), Jacques Janse van Rensburg (MTN-Qhubeka), Kohei Uchima (Japan), Qin Chen Lu (Max Success) and his fellow compatriot Wang Yin Chih (CCN).

Feng never gave up his hopes, even though the front group was caught at km 75 after getting a maximum lead of 3.40. He went on the attack again, initially with British veteran Lee Rodgers (CCN), to reach world champion for scratch race Martin Irvyne of Unitedhealthcare who, in the pure style of a pursuiter, was racing alone against the peloton with 25km to go. The dream of Feng and Irvyne fell apart with 4km to go.

The thrilling finale leaves all options open on GC for the remaining four stages of the Tour de Taiwan. “Shahrul got a well-deserved win,” said stage 2 winner Nathan Earle of Huon-Genesys. “Because of a few tactical errors, I was not well positioned but everything remains possible.” Race leader Pozdnyakov said he was “not worried” about the time bonuses that allowed Sulzberger to move to within one second of him on GC. “The smartest will win the race,” the Russian stated.

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