Another Tour de Tai-yawn?: Gains and Losses for Taiwan's Favorite Stage Race in 2016

Once again, the Tour de Taiwan is upon us. It is usually a time when I can sit back, roll my eyes at the anaemic route selection, debate if I should even bother writing anything about the race, then end up dicking on it for blog content. Though, some years it hasn't really been worth even blog-fill status. 

It is usually the same or similar routes that cover the some of the least inspiring roads and landscapes Taiwan has to offer, while barely offering a challenge to thin out the skilled riders from the hangers-on. Some routes even sent riders into the gloom of industrial Dajia to pay homage to Giant Manufacturing, leaving way too much on the table and again failing to show an international audience why Taiwan is a top tier cycling destination. 

With the 2016 iteration of the Tour de Taiwan looming (March 6 - March 10), I thought I should take a look at this years's offering, and I was surprised to see something a bit different. It is by far not the perfect route and still has a lot to complain about, but it is something that does actually have some merits that I can highlight between sighs, eye-rolls and exasperated exclamations of, "whatthefuck!" 



Stage 1: Ren Ai Rd. Circuit
Place: Taipei City
Date: 3/6/2016
Time: 9:15 Start
Distance: 62.4km

The first stage of the TdT is usually a short criterium or time trial to leave room for opening ceremonies and an opportunity to promote the race in a highly visible area. Taipei would be that area. 

The first stage of the TdT fits the bill. It is pretty much a circuit along Ren Ai Rd. from Taipei City Hall to the National Taiwan Museum and back. Between straightaways there are two roundabouts and the more technical navigation of the city hall building, where there will be three opportunities to pick up points for the sprinters in the bunch and probably where the action will be. If the pace is hot it could be a fun opening, but it could also become an over adorned warm up lap. 

Usually the first stage seeks to establish some kind of order in the peloton. This is, by far, not the most imaginative route and has few surprises. What is there to say... it is a one-road loop.  






Stage 2: Tamshui-Baisha
Place: New Taipei City
Date: 3/7/2016
Time: 9:30am Start
Distance: 116.37km

The second stage will also be rather short, coming in at 116km, but will provide something a little more interesting than a criterium. 

Stage 2 starts off on the historic Tamshui area and then follows the No. 2 Coastal Highway to Wanli. The Highway 2 follows a series of low rollers long the windy northern coast toward Keelung. Riders will have to perform a loop on the 北15 before tying a knot out in Wanli where they will have the chance to pick up points on the sprints and the battle of the KOM will officially get started. It is hard to call it s KOM with a 71m climb, followed by a 361m climb on the 北28. After doubling back for a second sprint at the same place, the riders follow the coast back to Baisha. 

What I like about this stage, is that the route crosses in several locations to add a little flair to the map, and it also incorporates some local routes aside from the provincial highways, which proves the point I have been making for a long time---That Taiwan's best local roads are capable of supporting a competitive stage race. They are wide enough, safe enough, and smooth enough. 

What really annoys me about this section, is that with so many amazing roads that cut through the old Yangmingshan volcano, the route planners insist on covering the same ground by doubling back over the route in return. The planners could very easily have stuck a real climb into the route and had the riders charge over the mountain before cruising back into Basha. It could be a sand to summit affair. In general the planners seem to have forgotten that most of Taiwan is mountainous and kept the climbs about as intimidating as a petting zoo. 






Stage 3: Taoyuan-Jaobanshan Park Yawnfest
Place: Taoyuan City
Date: 3/8/2016
Time: 9:30 Start
Distance: 118.84km

It is the third stage of five and the race has still not moved out of the top eighth of the country. This is because the area around the Taoyuan International Airport is so captivating and because fumes from jet fuel are so invigorating they could not resist hosting a race to advertise the tourism potential of the Taoyuan Areotropolis--a disaster in the making (HERE)--rather than directing the race into the foothills between Taoyuan and Hsinchiu. In this case it appears the luscious asphalt of Hsinchu and Miaoli counties will be left to be enjoyed by the local amateur riders who know how to enjoy them. 

The TdT route through Taoyuan is essentially the same as last year with a gradual increase in altitude, providing three opportunities for KOM contenders to grab a few points after the sprinters have had their fun way back near the coast. Now, I must admit, I do think the area around the Shimen Reservoir is a pretty place to cycle if you have to pass through Taoyuan. The final KOM offers 438m of altitude--another relatively small climb for Taoyuan, but I am sure the contenders will make a meal of it. If the race organisers could just dispatch with the part of the race that involves cycling on expressways and stick to the more exciting roads of the interior.






Stage 4: Nantou/Sun Moon Lake
Place: Nantou City/County
Date: 3/9/2016
Time: 9:30am Start
Distance: 166.56

Living in central Taiwan, I tend to hate on the central stages the most, This time it isn't the case. I can see the logic in this. 

Starting at Nantou City Hall so that all the Bigs can be seen looking important, the race heads down probably the worst section of the Highway 3 south of Taoyuan. The entire stretch through Nantou is just a pit. I would have suggested leaving Nantou on the 139, which would go through Jiji anyway. I know the are trying to work in the Route 152 bikeway, where tourists pump pedal cars and rentals among shady trees and train tracks. I can't remember if there are places where old rail lines cross the road or not. Something to watch out for. The greatest innovation here is with the use of the Route 131. It is not exactly the most challenging road into the Sun Moon Lake area. It is actually a quiet little road that allows a rider to slowly climb without having to confront harder climbs on the other routes. This again shows that smaller roads can support this race. The route returns to Nantou on the Highways 21 and 14. These are both favorites of the Taichung triathlon community. They are wide, smooth and direct. There are a couple of short, but annoying climbs coming out of the Highway 14 into Cautun. The route loops back through Nantou because it is so nice they need to ride it twice. Then the riders are directed into Sun Moon Lake on the Highway 21. The Highway 21 is not a bad road. It is not my favorite road into the area, but it has a bit of a grade and it traverses the jungle around Shuili. Since Taiwan has to advertise Sun Moon Lake, and stage racing has been married to tourism since the very beginning, this is one way to work Sun Moon Lake into the equation. Stage 4 has two opportunities each for the sprinters and KOM. At 789m, the climb over by that silly concrete tower will have to suffice. Again, there are better roads, but for the TdT, this actually isn't the usual offering. 






Stage 5: Siraya/Maolin KOM
Place: Tainan/Kaohsiung
Date: 3/10/2016
Time: 9:30am Start
Distance: 146.26km

The fifth and final stage in the TdT is another route of respectable distance in an area that shows a little more imagination that the circuit racing or years past. The fifth stage immediately runs headlong into the endless foothills of Tainan's gorgeous reservoir district. I was just cycling through that area, so my memory is fresh with the feeling of being slowly beaten down over a day of punchy climbs. The route passes through Yujing to the much larger Highway 3 and then the Highway 20. The route to Jiashain is nothing spectacular. It is straight and flat. I imagine that is why they put a sprint in there to wake up the peloton. The climb to Liugui is enjoyable with a few corners on the descent. 

What really perplexes me about this route is the ridiculous idea to avoid the Highway 27 on the southern side of the river. The only explanation I can imagine may be to arm photographers with zoom lenses to snap amazing photos of the riders passing in front of the looming misty haystack mountains that line the northern bank. Otherwise the Highway 27甲 is in worse condition and much uglier than the tree covered pastoral beauty of the Highway 27 and its superior scenery. The other innovation of this route is to hug the hills and then finish the race with a climactic KOM bid into the Rukai village of Wutai before the road falls apart. Again, the climb is a mere 816m, which is a mere coffee and cake climb in Taiwan, and would be better mid race. 



The 2016 Tour de Taiwan offers several improvements in offering more scenic and creative routes to maintain spectator interest if it is televised. The organisers seemed to shy away from any of Taiwan's iconic climbs to make a distinction between the Tour de Taiwan and the Wuling KOM. It still seems they left way too many routes on the table and failed to really include a nasty climb like last year's inclusion of the Highway 21 route to nearly 3000m on Alishan. Moreover, the 2016 TdT spends most of the race confined to the greater Taipei area while neglecting most of Taiwan--especially the foothills of Hsinchu County, Miaoli and Taichung. The Highway 21 from Taichung to Puli would make a great addition in the future. At five stages the Tour de Taiwan is a little short for the available riding. I would like to see another stage or two to increase the drama with maybe a team time trial to really encourage the display of the teamwork that goes into stage racing. 


Teams: 

In looking at the teams, I am again reminded of the past troubles we have had with allegations and implications of doping and dopers in the TdT peloton. The Iranian teams and VINO 4-Ever-SKO seem to be constantly battling the aura of scandal swirling around their teams. Looking at last year where the top places were all grabbed by riders who had previously served a ban for doping. 

Last year I wrote: 

The winner of the KOM was suddenly poised to take it all. 

This wouldn't have been a big deal. It really wouldn't. The only issue is that Mirsamad Pourseyedigolakhour, the winner of the KOM and eventual winner of the Tour de Taiwan... is a drug cheat.  

The Iranian cyclist just returned from a two-year vacation for the use of EPO. Another Iranian cyclist to grab the second slot, Hossein Askari, recently served a one year ban for  methylhexaneamine. The third place on the GC was also snagged by a drug cheat. Rahim Emamai, who also took the 2013 Wuling KOM, previously served a two-year ban for clenbuterol, a drug known as the asthma medicine of choice than made its way into seasoning Alberto Contador's prime rib. 

Only Patrick Bevin, the Kiwi of the Avanti Racing Team, made the podium without the dark clouds of a recent doping ban hovering over his head.

Another disappointment is that Giant, the bicycle company that many Taiwanese take great pride in as a globally recognized bicycle brand, and a perennial sponsor of the Tour de Taiwan, will be headlining a team from China, while its less visible RTS brand will be represented by Taiwanese riders. 

Pishgaman Giant Team / Iran 
Tabriz Shahrdari Team / Iran 
VINO 4-Ever SKO / Kazakhstan 
Drapac Professional Cycling / Australia 
UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team / U.S.A. 
Stölting Service Group / Germany  

NIPPO - Vini Fantini / Italy  Parkhotel Valkenburg Continental Team / Netherlands  JLT Condor / U.K.  Hrinkow Advarics Cycleang Team / Austria  Avanti IsoWhey Sports / New Zealand  Cibel - Cebon / Belgium  Team Ukyo / Japan  Utsunomiya Blitzen / Japan  Giant-Champion System Pro Cycling / China  Team Tre Berg-Bianchi / Sweden  Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team / DubaiTeam Illuminate / U.S.A.  RTS- Santic Racing Team / Chinese Taipei  Chinese Taipei National Team / Chinese Taipei  The Cycling Team of Hong Kong, China / Hong Kong

I just hope everyone has a safe and welcome stay in Taiwan. Hopefully some of the riders will return and discover what the TdT won't let them see. 

Tour de Tai-yawn: Drug Cheats Take Taiwan

The Tour de Taiwan (Tour de Tai-yawn) is over, the numbers are in the books and the prizes have been awarded. The teams chopped their way through some the seasonal drizzle and skimmed past the very best in concrete and rebar. This is a race local cyclists like myself often view as a simple matter of fact and not a tour de force. Normally there would be little to write about. It would be a whole ho-hum of results and stage winners. It would be...but....

I had been eyeing Stage 4, the KOM up the venerable slopes of Tataka on Alishan, as the only real section of UCI certified stage racing in Taiwan that was really worth a damn.

The winner of the KOM was suddenly poised to take it all. 

This wouldn't have been a big deal. It really wouldn't. The only issue is that Mirsamad Pourseyedigolakhour, the winner of the KOM and eventual winner of the Tour de Taiwan... is a drug cheat. 

The Iranian cyclist just returned from a two-year vacation for the use of EPO. Another Iranian cyclist to grab the second slot, Hossein Askari, recently served a one year ban for  methylhexaneamine. The third place on the GC was also snagged by a drug cheat. Rahim Emamai, who also took the 2013 Wuling KOM, previously served a two-year ban for clenbuterol, a drug known as the asthma medicine of choice than made its way into seasoning Alberto Contador's prime rib.

Only Patrick Bevin, the Kiwi of the Avanti Racing Team, made the podium without the dark clouds of a recent doping ban hovering over his head.

Another team that competed in the Tour de Taiwan that mounted the KOM with more than enough doping baggage, was the Vino4ever team that serves to honor Alexander Vinokourov, the disgraced Kazakh cyclist and notorious drug cheat.

If the less than exciting routes of the Tour de Taiwan weren't enough to dampen enthusiasm for the race, then the suspicion hanging over the winners might just kill it for Taiwan's cycling fans.

After some reflection, I am left to wonder if there is some sort of sick calculus at play in which the UCI and the race organisers are willing to leave Asia a regulatory black hole as part of an effort to boost the sport's popularity in an emerging market. 

Let us all hope the 2016 edition both takes advantage of Taiwan's superior topography, and lets the cheaters know they are not welcome. Pipe dreams!


Links:

• I Do Not Dispair: Kevin from the UK National Cycling Association bikes some of the more well-trod sections of Taiwan. He also ate his way around Taiwan as well. 

• China eats Taiwan's lunch in bicycle exports to South Korea. No, this is not because of the FTA.

• Can Taiwan figure out how to use a bike before Velo-Cities 2016?

Tour de Tai-yawn 2015: The Reality and Fantasy of Taiwan's Marquee Stage Race

With the sheen of fresh raindrops on newly paved roads, we are again reminded that March has arrived with it, and with it comes the beginning of the road cycling calendar-- an opportunity to scrunch up in front of the laptop at odd hours to occasionally swat away pop-up ads that regularly appear at key moments of any given race on the European circuit. It is a time when the demands of family life must pause for a key section of cobbles or the official word on the dismemberment of Tom Boonen-- cycling's own Mr. Glass. The soggy farms of the Ardenne, the Spring drizzle of San Remo, the swirling colors of the ebb and flow in the peloton as it bears down on every red-roofed town to devour all the road furniture on the way to Nice, Flanders or Roubaix.  From Taiwan, it is a world that feels more like an echo across the oceans through the distant lens of a periscope.

For a few days every March, Taiwan plays host to its very own UCI stage race. It is an opportunity for Taiwan to show the world its passion for cycling as the self proclaimed "Kingdom of Bicycles" and to share with both professional cyclists and amateur enthusiasts alike, why Taiwan can offer so much to the sport. And every March the cyclists of Taiwan are subjected to another annual embarrassment that diminishes the nation's reputation as a location for top tier cycling. It leaves us having to explain to outsiders that our insistence of Taiwan's ranking among the world's most challenging and rewarding locations to ride and race is not simple hyperbole. The names like Wuling and Tatajia should be uttered in the same reverent tones as Zoncolan and Galibier.

Instead of a coveted spot on the cycling calendar, the Tour of Taiwan plays little more than a blip on the schedule for the Asian continental teams. This is not to detract from these racers who are making their deserved payday, but rather, to reward these riders with a tour of Taiwan's finest in water stained concrete box construction is disingenuous to the competitors  their dedication to training and to their competitive edge that sets them apart from schmoes like me. The only respite this time around is The KOM stage of the Tour de Taiwan, which will be a climb out of Sun Moon Lake to Tatajia. This is significant as it marks the first real significant climb in this race and may be the only stage worth a damn. Admittedly, when I first glanced at the stage I had mistakenly assumed that the KOM would be merely the climb out of Sun Moon Lake. Judging from previous tours, it was not such a ridiculous proposition.  

Still, this Tour de Taiwan will need emergency services on stand-by in case riders fall from their bikes, asleep from boredom.

To illustrate my point I will highlight each of the five stages.

Stage 1: (3/22 Taipei-52km)

The first stage of the Tour de Taiwan is a flat 52km stage that is comprised of a 10k circuit from Taipei City Hall, down Ren-ai Rd. and back. The stage will have three opportunities for the sprinters to vie for points. The riders will get up close and personal with the modern Asian city and all the beauty concrete and rebar can provide as a stellar example of Taiwan's dedication to construction and development firms. Each circuit will finish in the shadow of Taipei 101, where they may swing close enough to have verbal (and possibly physical) abuses heaped upon them from the nutty cadre of pro-China welcome wagon at the base of the skyscraper.

Stage 2: (3/23 Taiyuan-137km)

Taoyuan has some very beautiful places.... And Taiyuan has some not so beautiful places. Back in 1998 I was originally going to live in Taoyuan when I arrived in Taiwan, but after a few days in drippy, windy concrete Hell, I moved to Taichung. The second stage of the Tour de Taiwan spends way too much time skirting retention ponds and the gusty coast near all the beauty of the Taoyuan International Airport before leaving the fumes from jet exhaust and crossing the threshold of rural beauty beyond the Highway 3. There are two opportunities to collect KOM points on hills at 255m and 438m. The Dolomites it is not.

Stage 3: (3/24 Changhua 143km)

The Tour de Taiwan will be skipping the Taichung area this year after gaining a reputation for its ridiculous black lung diversion through industrial Ta-chia in an overindulgent hum job past the Giant Corporation.

Instead, the race will start in beautiful downtown Changhua with a quick warmup in the climb up the Highway 74, which is merely a straight shot to the crest of the 139 on Baguashan. The riders will follow the well groomed 139 before dropping onto the most boring section of the Highway 14丙. The peloton will forsake the drop through Songboling or the undulations of the 137, or the routes out to Zhushan, in exchange for an opportunity to compete along another windy snooze of a coastline on the Highway 17 with its views of mudflats and the concrete pillars of the 63 Expressway. The route will follow the 150 through Taiwan's most corrupt township at Erlin and then onto the nondescript Highway 19 (Highway 1 with different industries to gaze at)  before receiving the small gift of a shot across the fantastic Hsiluo Bridge. It is here that the tour organizers make another slip in sending the peloton back home along the Highway 1, Taiwan's gloomy corridor of slapdash concrete, corrugated metal and industrial decay. They completely missed a chance to send them back through the Route 154 to the Highway 3 to the Route 141 and back over Baguashan via several better options. There are also some excellent farm roads that whip and wend through Dunlin County. They might add a few kilometers, but nothing beyond what a professional racer should be asked to accomplish in a stage. Lots of wasted opportunities in Stage 3.

Stage 4: (3/25 KOM 109km)

Stage 4 of the Tour de Taiwan is about the only stage of this race that fills me with a sense of pride. It demonstrates what makes Taiwan such an amazing country to cycle. Unfortunately for the Tour de Taiwan, this is the exception and not the rule.

The KOM stage takes riders on a loop around Sun Moon Lake as the Taiwan Tourism Bureau needs a way to work its heavily marketed tourist attraction into a race, despite the fact that the bicycle trail that is marketed as a cyclist paradise is completely unfit for serious riding. The riders will be afforded the traffic control necessary to make cycling around the lake an enjoyable experience. From the lake the peloton will climb out through the Highway 21 and straight toward a meeting with pain on the ramps to Tatajia. This is as spectacular a place as any to host a stage of a UCI race. There are curves, tunnels and quad busting ramps. It should be fun to see who takes the polkadots on the day.

Stage 5: (3/26 180km)

The fifth and final stage (yes, only five stages this year) will be through the southwestern core of Taiwan. The last stage of the race will be the only stage of any real distance and will start in the hills around the Tsengwen Reservoir. The hills are pretty and there should be some quick climbs and descents in the early stages before rumbling through the gawdawful Tainan/Kaohsiung plain that makes cycling out of those two cities far less enjoyable. The tour organisers had to insert a loop around a Buddha tourist attraction for the sake of tourism. a couple of bumps just over 20m act as opportunities to collect KOM points, but it would seem a bit embarrassing to compete for a KOM on a 22m climb after peaking the day before at a majestic 2571m. I guess you take 'em where you can get 'em.

And that is it. That's all. There is no more. The event starts and ends with a whimper. The action is over just as it starts to get interesting, and that is the sad reality of the Tour de Taiwan. Our moment of international cycling sunshine is annually squandered by the realities of weather, sponsorship, lack of imagination, and the lack of willpower.

One excuse that made its way through the grapevine was that there were concerns in regard to the road conditions and rider safety. A totally valid point, but when we look at the road conditions in the Strade-Bianche with its hardpack, gravel and dust, or the cobbles in Paris-Roubaix, or even the mixed surfaces and freezing weather of the Giro, Taiwan's relatively smooth tarmac is fair-game for UCI race heads to chew on. There is no reason to confine the participants to the industrial slumlands of the Highway 17 or the Highway 1 that is a concrete canyon, second to only the Death Star trench in terms of industrial greyness. With the bounty of good cycling to be had all over Taiwan, there is no reason for anything less than serving up the entire show.

Then again, what could be more Taiwanese than the yearning for a recognition that never comes?

The Tour de Taiwan is What Is. Then we have What Could Be. The Fantasy Tour de Taiwan. What would make a better Tour de Taiwan. 

Here is my solution from a couple years ago: Fantasy Tour de Taiwan.

1. Some other suggestions might be to turn Sun Moon Lake into the location for the Individual Time Trial instead of opening the KOM stage with a loop. This will never happen as it would deny the location to the hordes of Chinese tourists for half the day.  

2. Why in Merckx name is the Highway 26 in Kenting left out of the race? 

3. A Taichung stage with a Daxueshan finish would be nice. 

4. Dunlin County's 154 and other sections of "green tunnel" roads around Douliu and the Highway 3 would be perfect. 

5. Bringing in the islands would be a good start. Even a circuit around Xiao liu qui would be interesting.

Any other ideas?

Trouble in Paradise: Tour of Taiwan's Future In Doubt

Last week a report appeared in the Liberty Times questioning the future of the Tour of(de) Taiwan, Taiwan's premiere UCI sanctioned stage race. 

The entire report is posted below:

〔自由時報記者葉士弘／台北報導〕2013年環台賽昨天畫下句點，卻傳出自由車協會有意吹熄燈號，明年可能停辦環台賽。副秘書長王美香表示，比賽自去年升級為2.1級後，各方面要求都明顯提高，尤其國際轉播需要大筆經費，來自經濟部的贊助卻可能在明年取消，續辦將遭遇極大困難。 

環台賽因寶島地形特殊，總能吸引世界各地車隊參賽，卻不是一路順遂，也曾在2001年因經費募集困難停辦一次。去年升級為國際車總2.1級賽事後，大幅增加的國際轉播費用，車協依靠來自經濟部的經費挹注，但今年贊助只剩三分之一，明年甚至可能取消。王美香說：「降級太難看，如果找不到錢，可能會停辦。」停辦環台賽，引來車界不同看法，申騰美利達領隊邱朝雄說：「每年就一場比賽，這是最能代表台灣的比賽，停辦可能讓車隊找不到贊助商。」 

南寶樹脂NOVATEC車隊教練郭文進則強調，當初升級就太倉促，環台賽都是國外車隊曝光，與國內車隊有距離。 

Liberty Times/ Reporter Yeh Shin Hong 

2013 Tour de Taiwan ended yesterday. However, it’s rumored that the Chinese Taipei Cycling Association is planning to suspend its role as host for the Tour de Taiwan next year. The TCA deputy secretary, Wang Mei Sian (王美香),  stated that the requirements for hosting games have been raised ever since the race was promoted to class 2.1. In particular, international broadcasting rights are quite expensive. However, the subsidies from the Department of Economic Affairs might be suspended, making it difficult to continue hosting the event next year.  

The Tour de Taiwan is famous for its special geographic landscape, always attracting teams from all over the world to participate. However, things are going as well within the Tour de Taiwan. In 2001, Tour de Taiwan was not held for a year due to the lack of sponsorship and financial difficulties. Beginning last year, the Tour de Taiwan was promoted to class 2.1. The increase expense in international broadcasting has been relying on the support of Department of Economic Affairs. However, the amount of money from the Department of Economic Affairs that went to the event was slashed to one-third of what it used to be.  

What’s even worse is that the Department of Economic Affairs may be planning not to allocate funds for the race next year. “ Instead of being demoted in class, it’s possible the race will be postponed for a year if not enough financial aid is provided.  

When asked about the possibility of postposing Tour de Taiwan, various comments have appeared. The manager of Team Senter-Merida Taiwan said that “This is a yearly event, which best represents Taiwan. Postponing the race may put teams in danger of not able to find sponsors.” 

On the other hand, the coach of Nanpao-Novatec Cycling Team emphasized that the promotion to class 2.1 was too rushed. It turns out that most teams participating in Tour de Taiwan are foreign, while local teams are not provided with enough opportunities.

My first reaction is to assume the issue will come to naught. My guess is that this is part of a play by the sponsors to pressure the government and taxpayers into picking up a greater percentage of the tab. 

The chief beneficiaries of the Tour of Taiwan, besides the chiefs in the UCI, are the large bike companies that routinely use bike festivals and events as a sales tool for generating greater streams of domestic revenue. 

Although there is another part of me that feels the influence of the sponsors in route planning really hurts the Tour of Taiwan's ability to market itself for broadcasting. 

I mean, who really wants to tune in to watch the peloton cut through polluted and industrial Dajia for the simple reason of swinging past the Giant factory to pad the company's ego? It may play into the whole "King and kingdom" motif they have built up around Giant and King Liu by having riders pass the headquarters and pay homage, but it does not make for very compelling racing or marketable television for the amateur cyclist. 

The race has been in existence since 1978, and recognized by the UCI since 2005. It may be high time to step up and focus on repositioning the race on the race calendar as either an early season stage race to condition climbers and other specialists for the grand tours, or position the race as a season ending option for a few riders who failed to live up to their hype and earn a few more points before the World Championships. 

Moreover, organizers are going to have to resist those tempting industrial wasteland loops in favor of parcours through Taiwan's more challenging interior. Taiwan has the terrain to become a bright spot on the cycling map, but the Tour de Taiwan lacks the confluence of timing, geography, weather, and willpower.  

For starters, the organizers can replace "de" with "of". 

Related: 

Lee Rodgers has a nice article in Pez Cycling about the Tour de Taiwan.

Tour de Tai Yawn (Update) Stage 5

After four stages of the Tour de Taiwan, the teams are making the most of the race and clamoring for points. The weather has been miserable since the weekend, and I feel bad for all the guys out there chugging away.

The great thing about competition, is that it is often so intense, it makes you forget about the sensations of freezing wet misery. Some nice reporting on Stage 3 Here and Here.

As it stands after Stage 4 in Taichung, the Aussie, Rhys Polluck from Team Drapac, still holds the GC with a seemingly insurmountable lead of 9:57:13 over the rest of the field.

Lee Rodgers has another stellar piece from his ongoing series with Velo News.

Today, Stage 5 cuts up Changhua for 150km through the mostly flat farmland with an opening hop over the Highway 74 and a couple kilometers of rollers along a short section of Bagua Shan.

Most of the Changhua route slices down the Highway 17 through Lukang, and into Erlin. This is is a miserably desolate and windy route as it misses some nice roadway along the other side of the Choshui River. The route skips Hsiluo and its amazing bridge, but instead, assaults the riders with the nasty Highway 1 back to Changhua. Not the most creative or rewarding routes, but I am sure the riders with have fun picking each other apart in the crosswinds.

Other Links:

• Steal This Bike: Would You Report A Bike Theft?

• PEZ and Cutting Edge Cycling.

• The Future of Phinney.

• Cancellara, Nibali and Wiggins in fine form to contend for the big races. Cadel not so.

• Can NYC get its act together? Stalled bill threatens cycling.

Fixing the Tour de Taiwan: How To Make A World Class Event

Taiwan Cycle is back and that can only mean another Tour de Taiwan is upon us. David Reid has done us all a big favor by posting an English translation of each stage. Moreover, Michael Turton pretty much sums up the sentiments of everyone in Taiwan with a passing interest in cycling when he recently wrote:

This route is ridiculous in the extreme, as if someone deliberately set out to avoid all the pretty parts of the island and instead sought to send the cyclists through all the flat, polluted, crowded, dull parts of the island.

I couldn't agree more. Taiwan has some world class routes, but the Tour de Taiwan seems to never explore them. It is always a disappointment when the route is revealed and it is a bunch of boring crap that simply reinforces dumb ideas about Taiwan.

The Tour de Taiwan (Why the French "de"?) faces a lot of challenges. Promoters and their political cronies need to look out for their own interests and often steer these events into their pockets. After all, The Tour de France and Giro d'Italia were simply ways of bringing tourists to ski resorts in the off season.

But the Tour de Taiwan also suffers from bad timing.

The international race calendar starts in March with smaller, warm-up races, before the day races of the Ardenne and the Spring Classics with Flanders and Roubaix closing out the day races before the fireworks of the Giro d'Italia and finally capping the season with the Tour de France. Of course, the UCI World Championships and the Vuelta de Espana officially close the season in September. There are some small stage races in the United States that are attracting some top talent in the lead up to the Grand Tours, but these are still just high profile training races that offer sponsors greater exposure in a larger market.

In Taiwan we all know that between July and October the weather is unpredictable. Typhoons can wreck havoc an the best laid plans. The weather usually dries out between April and the first week of June, but by then all the top talent is concentrated on Europe. This leaves November to January as the nicest time to hold a cycling event, but that is considered the off season when riders rest their weary legs and try to recover for another grueling season. Moreover, Taiwan's highest passes are often still covered with slush or ice between December and April.

As it stands, the Tour of Taiwan is a preparation race on the lower end of UCI priorities. It is considered to be way off on the other side of the world from where the action happens and is best left for training in the off season.

Like many people, I feel Taiwan deserves to shine a little brighter in the lore of competitive cycling.

That is why I have designed my own Tour de Taiwan. If I were the race director and I could hold this race under optimal conditions, this is how it might look.

Stage 1: Team Time Trial

The first stage is a TTT from the opening ceremonies in the city center, out to the Highway 2, which hugs Taiwan's scenic North Coast. The route is short and relatively flat for high speeds. The route ends in Jinshan for a short hop over Yangming Shan back to Taipei.

By opening with a TTT, the riders could warm up for the coming stages without risking too much for the GC.

Crowds could form along the route at many locations to cheer for the teams and attract visitors to Danshui and other locations along the coast. Jiufen and Jinguashi are also close by.

Bike route 1432802 - powered by Bikemap

Stage 2: Miaoli Foothills

Stage 2 opens the race up with a little more distance over rolling hills and punchy climbs between the Highway 3 and the Highway 13. This route offers views of the Mingde and Longtan Reservoirs, as well as the rolling Sanyi hills.

The roads are wide and well paved. The mixed topography gives riders an excellent opportunity for a break away that could shake things up. There may be room in there on the Highway 13 for some sprint points.

Miaoli could attract visitors to both Mingde and Sanyi. Taichung could highlight Dongshih.

Bike route 1432804 - powered by Bikemap

Stage 3: Taichung and Central Taiwan

The third stage starts to shake up the riders before the Queen Stage.

It starts in Taichung City at the Municipal Office (Politicians need to wring something out of this) and heads up out of the city through Dakeng and up the Route 129. Stage 3 connects to the Highway 21 over Baimao Shan to Puli and then to Sun Moon Lake and out to Shuili. I would recommend the Route 63 out of Sun Moon Lake, but with so many riders in a competitive ride, it might be too dangerous.

This route contains lots of good climbing and technical descents. Riders can make time on both. There may be both opportunities for sprinting and climbing points to be awarded.

Local governments can use this route to draw crowds to Hsinshe, Puli, Sun Moon Lake and Shuili.

Bike route 1432806 - powered by Bikemap

Stage 4: Wuling Pass (The Queen Stage)

After a rest day, riders launch out of Puli to conquer Wuling at 3275m. The challenge is world class and offers some of the most spectacular views comparable to the Alps or the Pyrenees.

The climb to the top only precludes a dash over Taiping Shan to Yilan and the East Coast.

This stage might break the race open. It is long and tough. Several locations for climbing points.

Crowds could cheer along the route and visit Chingjing scenic areas.

Bike route 1432808 - powered by Bikemap

Stage 5: Hualien to Taidong

After a grueling Stage 4, riders can regroup and recover on the long, flat stretch of roadway between eastern Taiwan's two largest cities.

There is only one climb of any measure in which a brave rider might try to put some time into a rival. A day for the sprinters and TT technicians.

Both Hualien and Taidong governments could attract visitors for the race.

Bike route 1432811 - powered by Bikemap

Stage 6: Hengchun Peninsula

The Hengchun Peninsula is an ideal transition from a recovery day. Riders are faced with a few short climbs and soaring flats through the Manzhou Valley before cruising to a finish at the beaches in Kenting and another rest day. The roads are in pretty good shape with a few sections that may be a little rough, but no worse that some of the hardpack featured in the Giro d' Italia. Ths route might have sprinting points and one spot for climbing points to be awarded.

Kenting would surely find some favorable press. The local governments could also draw visitors to Manzhou's picturesque beauty.

Bike route 1432813 - powered by Bikemap

Stage 7: Alishan

To separate the men from the boys, a stage from Chiayi over Alishan and back might be just enough to determine a winner in a close race. This is a chance to crown the KOM.

Alishan is already on the tourist maps, but the 159甲 is a wonderful road to discover. It may be a little narrow, so traffic control would be a must.

Riders would then head back into Chiayi past the reservoir with a finish in the city.

Bike route 1432815 - powered by Bikemap

Stage 8: Tainan-Kaohsiung ITT

An Individual Time Trial between Tainan and Kaohsiung might be a real bonus. This allows riders to finish in Taiwan's southern metropolis and giving equal weight to Taiwan's northern and southern cities.

Here, some of the sprinters could make up some time against the climbers. If the race is close, the GC can be settled here.

Bike route 1432817 - powered by Bikemap

Tour de Taiwan Schedule (English)

David Reed has done an excellent job translating the schedule for the upcoming Tour of Taiwan, which kicks off this March, and I am grateful for David allowing me to post the info.

It is always fun to welcome the pros in this UCI sanctioned race, and by the looks of things it is similar to other TdT events in the past. I would love to be in charge of the route mapping, but I understand there are seasonal and political considerations that take precedent over amazingly awesome routes.

So if you have a chance to catch some of the action going through you area, be sure to don the El Diablo suit and put on the antlers.

The Chinese language page is here.

Here is the Translation (Sorry, I can't make it fit on the page).

It Must Be An Election Year: Ma Ying-jiu Eats the Tour de Taiwan

Looking Into The Future

The CNA (Focus Taiwan) is reporting that the elected R.O.C. president, Ma Ying-jiu, would like to include the annual Tour de Taiwan in his planned festivities to ring in the centenary of the R.O.C.

Some highlights and commentary below:

"We hope that cycling, a sport that promotes energy conservation and carbon emissions reduction, will become a major sport among Taiwanese people, " Ma said.

The first issue is that the record shows Ma Ying-jiu, his administration and his party are no friends to the environment. Ma's government has spent NTD 3 million in taxpayers money to defend and cheerlead the expansion of the petrochemical industry in Taiwan. The latest is to build a new plant in one of the last wetlands along the western plain.

Then there was the unfair attempted expropriation of farmland aided by the president for the construction of an expanded Chunshan Science Park.

Ma's party has used its legislative majority to pass a law that would relax restrictions on land developers. Much of this law is aimed at paving Taiwan for Chinese tourists. The government seems bent on creating attractions for the sole purpose of drawing Chinese tourists, whether there is a need or not. It is a manufactured demand for attractions.

Let's not forget the 5th phase of the Sixth Naphta Cracker plant, which the government's Environmental Impact Assessment Committee determined to be too burdensome to require reduced carbon emissions.

The list goes on...

The Ma administration and the KMT is a tool for very few to become very rich at the expense of the very many. They are not concerned about the environment as long as it does not prevent them from maintaining power. Only when an issue threatens a politicians chances for holding office will the environment be a concern. Fortunately, since the democratic reforms ushered in under Lee Teng-hui, there is now some civil recourse. Unlike the days when the government simply did as it wished under the instruction of a dictator and maybe a little organized crime for the elbow grease. The Number 3 Nuclear Power Plant on a coral reef in Kenting and the 98,000 barrels of nuclear waste for the indigenous Dao people to sit on, are just two examples of this era.

Mr. Ma, you are no friend to the environment and your high talk of carbon emissions rings empty!

"Taiwan is a kingdom of bicycles, not only because it produces high-end bicycles but also because the people use them and have made them a symbol of Taiwan," Ma added.

In effect this quote highlights the fact that Ma Ying-jiu recognizes the fact that Taiwanese have constructed a new national and ethnic identity with their own shared symbols of meaning i.e. culture that is not a part of the Chinese experience. Symbols like the bicycle and its impact in helping Taiwanese imagine their community through shared experiences, in this case an economic experience forged between local, global and unique structural forces, has effectively created a dichotomy between Taiwan and China in terms of "one" vs. "other". The process of othering China under similar social, economic and structural circumstances has been the basis for the Taiwanese identity for over 100 years and an identity separate from Han people on the continent for hundreds of years. (I do not use the term China as it is problematic and anachronistic).

The most surprising quote from the article nearly knocked me out of my chair.

"You feel attachment to the land when you pedal your way over every inch of it," he pointed out.

Ever since the beginning of Taiwan's localization movement under Lee Teng-hui, Ma Ying-jiu has attempted to put on the face of a "New Taiwanese", or a person born in China who feels a separate experience on Taiwan and a shared historical trajectory and destiny binds all people to the land as "local" or Taiwanese. As a matter of fact, Ma was the first politician to openly deploy the term.

For Taiwan neophytes, the localization movement grew in tandem with the democracy movement in the 1970's and 1980's as Taiwanese rejected the Chinese Nationalist ideology that had been brought to Taiwan in 1945 by the Chinese Kuomintang, and enforced under a brutal system of martial law and a single party dictatorship. The KMT attempted to maintain power despite representing only a small minority of other Chinese Nationalists who fled China. Democracy was opposed as was the establishment and promotion of local Taiwanese languages and cultures. Instead, the KMT Leninist state used its power and various forms of intimidation to promote a single highly centralized "national" language, culture and ideology that reflected the philosophy of Dr. Sun Yat-sen.

Sunism is a conglomeration of various philosophies, but draws heavily from some of the popular ideas of the time, which also helped to inspire fascism. Sun sought to use the 18th century pseudoscientific beliefs in racialism and social darwinism to accomplish two ends; a) to delegitimize the Qing as "outsiders" and "non-Chinese" through "blood" descent, and b) maintain all the territories acquired by the Qing expansion that pushed the borders of the Middle Kingdom out to two non-traditional places--the desert, and the ocean (Taiwan). Sun classified "Han" as a "pure race" that was bred to be the rightful leaders of the "Asian races" ahead of the "brown and black skinned people" who Sun felt were degraded and "subhuman". Sun believed it was a Chinese nation that would lead the master race of Asia through its superior culture and breeding. The Chinese nation became a civilizing project and a colonizer. We can still see much of this at work in China today. Not only did Sun place Han as ethnically/culturally superior, but he determined that Han equaled modern as well. This gave the Republic of China the pretext to engage in transforming all people's within its dominion into Han and Chinese nationalists. This is how the ROC ruled Taiwan for 45 years; in the relationship of colonizer and colonized.

Ma Ying-jiu hails from this tradition. For his entire career he has advocated this brand of Chinese nationalism, and up until the early 1990's he was an ardent opponent of democracy and localization. Ma, who was born in Hong Kong and grew up in one of the insular communities of other Chinese immigrants (refugees) who enjoyed benefits derived from their ethnic status as "Mainlanders", has always tried to oppose, suppress and deny the separate Taiwanese identity. As a student at Harvard he is widely believed to have been a student informer on the overseas Taiwanese who opposed the KMT's single party dictatorship.

Since becoming president, elected on an economic platform, Ma has made several moves away from the popular Tawan-centered model of his two predecessors, toward a Greater Chinese ideology. Furthermore, he has made little effort in upholding or asserting this identity, or any other for that matter, other than Taiwan as an ambiguous geographic location. For the first time in 20 years Taiwan is being led by a believer in the strong China centered identity espoused by Sun Yat-sen and the Chiang family dictators, the younger being Ma's patron in the KMT political world.

Over the past two years Ma has backed away from negotiating with China from a position of strength and switched to a position of acquiescence, in part to realize the Chinese nationalist dream of the united "fatherland". He backs every measure which erodes Taiwanese sovereignty over their land. Ma even asked Taiwanese to avoid waving their own flags in a sporting event against Chinese teams... in Taiwan, while the Chinese could do what they wished. Ma has twice refused to make even a symbolic attempt at joining the United Nations, he often refers to cultural and economic links between Taiwan and China as "domestic" or "region to region".

Lastly, I resent the use of a cycling event in the centenary of the ROC, as Taiwanese were in no way a part of its founding and only came into contact with the ROC in 1945 after being a Japanese colony for 50 years. For most of the Taiwanese experience with the ROC they has no access to its rights nor its privileges. Right and Privilege was left to people like Ma Ying-jiu... connected party insiders. The ROC is an entity that enables a system of ethnic disharmony and inherent inequality as some citizens are "Chinese" enough and others are not and can never be. The entire enterprise needs to be scrapped and rebuilt around Taiwan as a center and not a periphery. Only this can ensure equality for all people. Unfortunately, Ma is working hard to see this will never become a reality.

I can not look into Ma's heart of hearts to know how he really feels, but if his actions are any indication his words are empty words.