Tour de Tai...yawn!
I passed through part of the Taichung TdT route on my bike ride to work this morning behind one of the official cars.With Taiwan as the world's greatest bicycle producer... by volume... we are proud to host a UCI sanctioned cycling event: The Tour de Taiwan. (Don't ask me why they insisted on using the French "de"... I guess it could very well be The Tour-的 Taiwan and hence implying UCI dominion over the event as stated in the Cairo and Potsdam Declarations).
Year after year I get a little excited over the event, but honestly, each year I am disappointed by the routes they choose for the stages. I understand that the Tour de Taiwan must serve a myriad of needs and mostly must satisfy local communities (and their representative who own or exact unofficial taxes over the roadside stalls) who want to make absolutely sure the "Tour" implies tourism dollars. This is savvy politics.
Each year the Tour organizers promise to better consult the local cycling community to choose better routes, but rarely do we see the evidence in the final results.
Each Tour I have the, "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I've watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate" moments. I have seen routes and places in Taiwan that would make protour cyclists feel Taiwan really is a world class destination for a UCI event. There are places that could truly demonstrate the beauty of this place and not just a tour through the old concrete boxes.
Anyone have a route they'd like to suggest for next year.
Sigh!
Maybe it is just because of the March weather.
Takashi Miyazawa won yesterday's stage 3.
David McCann of Team Giant holds the GC.
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