Man that was hard! 100 miles with tons of climbing and I am still not over my effort from the first stage. I was proud of myself though, I raced super smart and conservative, always letting others do my work for me. There were many moments of distress for me but I always stayed within the main group until the final 10-15k when a split occurred in an attempt to reel in the 2 man break up the road. The race finished at the top of a dam where I managed to make up a bit of ground on some of the riders who spent more time working than I did. I finished in the top third of the field. Today was about limiting the damage, plain and simple. Probably my smartest race ever.
Here's the cycling news report.
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Stage 2 - January 21: Kanchanaburi – Sri Nakharindra Dam, 160.1 km Fukushima
in yellow after a day-long breakaway
*By Laszlo Szilasi in Sri Nakharindra Dam*
Strong Japanese rider Koji Fukuchima (Team Nippo Meitan) won Tour of Siam's
second stage, a 160 km's run from Kanchanaburi to Si Nakharondra Dam, which
is one of the most important national parks in Thailand. When crossing the
finish line this very emphatic and emotional Asian rider used the
traditional Thai greetings, a gesture of paying respect to the local fans
called WAI.
Fukushima spent most of the day in a break with an Australian rider before
going off the front alone 25 km from the finish. The Japanese rider won the
stage comfortably ahead of Askari Hossein (Giant Asia) who broke free from
the main bunch on the last hill.
Asian Games gold medallist Wong Kam Po (Hong/Kong) led the peloton home, 49
seconds behind the stage winner.
The victory is Fukushima's first of the season and will see him wear the
yellow jersey on tomorrow's third stage.
How it unfolded
The second stage of this year's Tour of Siam started from Kanchanaburi, in
front of the city pillar shrine, not far from the world famous bridge over
the Kwae River. The weather conditions were similar to that of the first
stage, hot at around 33 degrees.
The race started again with lot of attacks and after 20 kilometres a
seven-strong group formed off the front, including three riders of the
Japanese Nippo team. They never maintained a big lead, but worked fairly
good together.
As the race started to reach the mountains, the front group blew apart and
the peloton began catching them again. Only two of the break managed to stay
in the front, stage winner Fukushima and Giant Asia rider Jai Crawford. The
peloton seemed to be satisfied catching five from the original seven-man
break, and so the duo on the front started to extend their lead.
Today's first King of the Mountains was 87 kilometres into the stage and
taken out by Crawford with the peloton a further four-minutes behind. After
a fast descent it was a U-turn for the riders and they have to climb the
same mountain from the opposite side.
Fukuchima decided to attack 25 kilometres from the finish, leaving his
breakaway mate alone. The Nippo rider was a bit unlucky, puncturing right
after his attack, but had a quick wheel change and was on his way again.
He caught Crawford again quickly and attacked immediately. The Japanese
rider was successful, and rode most of the last 20 kilometres alone, with
the peloton still some three minutes behind him.
Fukuchima lost a lot of his lead on the three kilometre long ascent to the
finish line, but held on and to take a well deserved stage win, one minute
ahead of the peloton.
After the race Fukuchima, who spent most of the day off the front, answered
questions of the race presenters in the local Thai language before going
onto sign autographs for local children.
"Today is a very nice day for me. I didn't planned a so long attack, because
after yesterday stage I felt very tired," explained Fukuchima, who learnt
Thai while training in the country's Northern regions. "We work very well
together with the Giant Asia rider, he was very good up on the hills. At the
final phase I still had to attack him, because I saw he ran out of energy. I
won this race before and would like to keep the yellow jersey as long as
possible. The last months I spent in a training camp with my teammates
around Chiang Rai, the life is much cheaper in Thailand compared to Japan
and the environment is very good, that's why we like train here. "
Australia's second placed Crawford was also pleased with the outcome of
today's stage. "It was a good day, Fukushima and I worked well together in
the break," he explained. "On the climbs I felt very well, but I was too
tired in the last 25 km. Yesterday I arrived in 13th place so I'm not too
far behind in the GC. Tomorrow is a flat stage so I will try to recover
well, because Stage 4 has some mountaians again, which is in flavour for my
team."
The race continues tomorrow with a 133km-long stage which features
moderately hilly sections.
Tom
--
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
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