March 26/15 11:31 am - Tour de Taiwan: Stage 5 and Final GC

Posted by Editoress on 03/26/15
 

Britton Finishes 10th Overall in Taiwan

Team SmartStop concluded their first race in Asia with Rob Britton finishing in tenth place on the overall general classification at the Tour de Taiwan.

The final 178km stage yesterday marked the end of the five-day stage race with Jure Kocjan sprinting to 11th. Team Captain Zach Bell said that although the team did not come away with a podium finish, the Tour de Taiwan has shown the team is on good form and ready for what the rest of the season brings.

"It was disappointing to not come away from here with more, but it was not from a lack of preparation," said Zach, "I think it will just make guys realize we have to stay hungry and keep working hard for everything we get."

The final stage started very aggressively, with a number of teams wanting to get in the early break. Eric Marcotte took his chance on a move that looked like it was going to stay away until a rider from the Pishgaman Giant Team chased it down solo.

"Breaks seemed to always include a key general classification contender and got quickly and fiercely chased down," said Zach.

Zach countered the move Eric was in, which eventually grew to six riders who rode the remaining 100km flat course with a gap of two minutes. The breakaway group was working well together until the final finishing circuit.

"On the circuit the gap started to drop and the group worked hard to make it stick," explained Zach, "but lights started going out about 15 km to go, so I went away on my own with about a 45 second gap."

"It forced the other sprint teams to continue a hard chase and burn through more guys. I was caught about 4.5km from the line."

From there Team SmartStop set up for Jure in the sprint but the bunch was poorly organized and Jure got caught behind some bad decisions. Eric attacked with 800 metres to go and got clear but got picked up just 100 metres from the line.

Despite the results Zach says the team looks to be in good form, which is consistently building as the stages go on.

"We had some bad luck this week that hurt the results a little but it was hard teaching at a high level. The team was on the mix and I would say it's the first race where we have not had the combination of good legs and decent luck."

The team now returns to America and sets their sights on the Redlands Bicycle Classic in California in two weeks time.

Report courtesy Premier Sports Group

Results