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Drapac Cycling have provided this report by Skoda rider Thomas Palmer, who put in another hard shift at the 2013 Tour de Taiwan yesterday, working to protect the overall second place of team leader Bernard Sulzberger.
At the end of another hard day that finished on a very tough 800m climb that cranked up to 14 percent in places, Sulzberger managed another second place to move just one second behind the Baku Cycling Project rider and race leader Kirill Pozdnyakov.
The stage winner was Mohd Shahrul Mat Amin from Malaysia, of the Terengganu Cycling Team.
Second again today is as frustrating as it is promising. We would like to have chalked up a win by now but I think Bernie is looking like the most consistent finisher which bodes well for the overall chase.
Today was another tough day, without a dominant team to take control the race remained super aggressive all day. The finish too was fast and chaotic.
I got to put my lead-out man hat on today. As a reversal of the usual order it was me positioning Bernie at the pointy end.
It’s good to see what it’s like on that side of things plotting the best possible course through a frantic mess of riders with one ear and one eye over your shoulder for ‘your man’ – harder than it looks!
With Floris and the others ahead of me and Bernie glued to my wheel we managed to plonk him ahead of the first bubble of riders for the final corner and that was almost all it took.
The team had to pull together a few times on the road today to chase back dangerous moves and keep things in order. So far we’ve been able to keep ourselves within striking distance but hopefully we haven’t used too many biscuits doing so.
Looking ahead to tomorrow I think those biscuits could be handy. The course is very hilly with a tough finish again. If the racing continues as relentlessly as it been, I can see the field being blown to pieces.
With fatigue starting to set in throughout the field the time is coming where a few riders will be begin to stand out, and the time gaps could begin to open up.
Today the riders face a tough 115km stage over a rolling course around the city of Taichung.
[roargal]
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