A hectic finish after 83.2 km of racing in Taipei, the opening stage of Tour de Taiwan. As expected, it was a bunch sprint in the end. Bryan Gómez (Manzana Postobon) claimed to be the fastest in the capital city, ahead of Eric Young (Elevate-KHS Pro Cycling) and Yasuharu Nakashima (Kinan Cycling Team). He now leads at 3 seconds in GC, ahead of Shao Hsuan Lu (Chinese Taipei Cycling Team), the Asian champion.
“I have been working very hard, so I am not surprised. But I am really happy. I knew that I could take it. I did my best and we got it,” says Bryan Gómez at the finish. “I have been working on my sprint. I was more like a lead-out, but it got like too crazy at the end.”
At the first part of the race, many teams showed their intention to join the breakaways. After plenty of attacks, Ho Burr (HKSI Pro Cycling Team) was the solo leader from Lap 2. Shao Hsuan Lu (Chinese Taipei Cycling Team), Jason Lea (Team BridgeLane), Jing Huei Wang (Chinese Taipei Cycling Team) and Florian Obersteiner (Herrmann Radteam) then joined him just after the first intermediate sprint.
Manzana Postobon, Kinan and Japan National Team were at the front of the peloton to control the pace, while the 5-man breakaway who snatched up the points and time bonus at the second intermediate sprint. The cooperation never went well between the 5, and the gap was controlled by the bunch within 30 seconds all the way to the last intermediate sprint. Jing Huei Wang tried earlier to go for the points while Jason Lea led the chase behind the solo leader. Wang and Lu were the first 2 into the last intermediate sprint.
It ended up to be all together. After he was neutralized, all sprinters and their teammates positioned themselves furiously before taking 3 decisive turns in the final km. Eric Young (Elevate-KHS Pro Cycling) lead the race until the final 150 meters, but it was Bryan Gómez (Manzana Postobon) who timed his sprint perfectly and took the victory while Yasuharu Nakashima (Kinan Cycling Team) third.
