Cycling Pro Road & Mtb

Bazzana launches solo attack in final kilometers at Stage 5 of the Tour de Korea

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Parent Category: Cycling Pro Road & Mtb

Category: News Cycling Pro Road & Mtb 2011

Published on Tuesday, 19 April 2011 17:03

Written by Luca Salvatelli

Team Type 1 - sanofi-aventis rider Alessandro Bazzana took advantage of two tight corners in the final minutes of the 148km fifth stage of the Tour de Korea on Tuesday to jump out ahead of a speeding peloton and try his hand at a solo victory.

On a relatively flat day heading east and inland from the Yellow Sea coast, Bazzana and his four teammates sat in the relative calm of the pack as rival squads gambled with the race leader’s team Tabriz Petrochemical to try and establish a breakaway.

"Tabriz controlled the race from the start, and there were numerous attacks that were all neutralized," said Director Sportif Mike Carter.

"With 25k to go Tabriz got one of their riders into a group of eight that got away, and that forced us to chase. It was easily controlled by us, and the finish was a field sprint with no changes on the general classification," Carter said.

Team Type 1 - sanofi-aventis rider Will Dugan remained in third place overall, four seconds behind German rider Tobias Erler of Tabriz Petrochemical. Austrian rider Markus Eibegger, also from Tabriz Petrochemical, remains race leader with an eight second advantage over Dugan.

"There was sand in the road after Tabriz attacked the bloody hell out of us for 20km. I can’t believe we were able to respond. It was everything I had. Then they let up and I crashed with about 15k to go and finished in the field sprint," said Dugan.

Dugan was unhurt in the crash, and rode safely to the finish without losing any time.

Bazzana said he attacked into a headwind as the peloton sped up to around 60k/h with less than two kilometers in the race and was obliged to negotiate two 90-degree turns within the final 1500 meters.

"I attacked solo with 1.5km to go, into a strong headwind. It was windy all day, but not much of a factor, and in the end the peloton brought me back in the final 250 meters. The uphill sprint finish suited me really well, but I guess I needed more patience today. I felt good, and went for it a bit too early," Bazzana said.

On Wednesday the peloton at the Tour de Korea will contest stage six, a hilly, 138km leg from Chungju to Yeongju. with two classified climbs along the way.

"Stage six is the big day for the whole race. The KOM is 24km from the finish, and it’s the closest hilltop to the end for any of the remaining stages. This is where the Tour de Korea general classification will be decided. Will climbs very well, and you can bet Tabriz and Team Type 1 will be marking each other all day," Carter said.