Kadlec seals overall Tour of Taihu Lake win

Czech team Dukla Praha concluded the Tour of Taihu with style as they added to Milan Kadlec's overall victory a second stage win by Alois Kankovsky on the island in the middle of lake Kunchenghu. The former world champion in the omnium out-sprinted Team Type 1's Alexandr Serebryakov and Malaysian sprinter ace Harrif Salleh of Terengganu.

The breakaway of the day formed of Liu Jiangeng (Hengxiang), Ricardo Mestre (Carmim-Prio) and Alizera Asgharzadeh (Tabriz) got caught during the final lap.

"It's a pity that Alois hasn't found a place in a Pro Team because he's one of the fastest sprinters in the world," Kadlec stated. "He could win bunch sprints at Grand Tours as well."

Kankovsky, 28, has switched his focus to track cycling and road racing in Asia. Dukla Praha team manager Jan Kopac has found in China the most suitable stage races for fast riders used to short efforts on the velodromes. After a trip back to Czech Republic in order to get new visas, they'll be back to China for the newly created 2.2 Tour of Fuzhou from November 18 to 20.

"We already came to the Tour of Taihu last year, so we knew what to expect in terms of courses," Kadlec told Cyclingnews. "I don't know all of China but this is for sure one of the nicest area around a beautiful lake. We don't have in the Czech Republic such a well organized bike race. The problems of the sport of cycling are in Europe, not here."

A former rider from Lampre who spent nine seasons in different Italian pro teams, Kadlec looked just as happy as a beginner when he received the orange jersey of final winner of the Tour of Taihu Lake. After winning stage 1, he kept the lead with no major difficulty till the end, even though he had a hard time during stage 4 when the last hour of racing was made of echelons.

"It crowns an incredible season for me and our team," he said. "In my career, I had collected all places at the national Czech championship including three times second but I never won it until this year. As a team, we've won a lot of races. It's a pleasure to see this team growing and performing. It's the result of five years of work all together. This group of riders has an excellent level on flat courses like here. Alois came second overall last year, I win the Tour of Taihu this year, we're delighted. Five years ago, I was contemplating retirement but track racing has given me a new motivation. I even got a bronze medal at the world championship [for points race] two years ago, I've enjoyed riding Six-Days in Berlin, Bremen, etc, I've done my best time on the flying 200 metres at the age of 36… Now I only race for the passion of the sport. With the jersey of national champion, I'll race again next year for sure."

Shall he perform just as well at the Tour of Fuzhou, Kadlec might even carry enough points to help a team qualify for the 2014 World Tour. "Who knows…," he said with the smile of an enthusiastic youngster.

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