Tour of Taiwan: Team Polti Kometa wants to win also in Asia
With the Italian calendar underway and the riders of Team Polti Kometa having achieved great performances in Tirreno Adriatico already, another group of riders is travelling to Taiwan to face five days that call for the best sprinters in the fight for the stage wins.
A season of exotic destinations for Team Polti Kometa. The podium in the Tour of Rwanda, the first foray in Africa of the Alberto Contador Foundation professional team, has its continuity with the Tour of Taiwan. From Sunday 10 to Thursday 14, coinciding with the early hours of European time, there will be short and fast stages that usually end with sprint finishes.
The race repeats the route of previous editions, with a single demanding finish in the second stage, the arrival at Jiaobanshan Park, which could determine the overall classification. For its part, the Taipei circuit on the first day and the climb to Shuan Zhang Temple in the last kilometres of the fourth day (the longest, almost 170 kilometres) will spice up the race.
One of the peculiarities of the Tour of Taiwan is that it is contested by a line-up of only five riders. For that reason, the stages become very complicated to control for the teams that want to set the pace of the competition, and aware of that, Team Polti Kometa bets on sprinters like Manuel Peñalver and David Martín but also with strong domestiques like Andrea Garosio, who already did an excellent job in Rwanda; Davide De Cassan and a Fran Muñoz who continues demonstrating his solvency to contribute to the objectives of the squad.
Manuel Peñalver: “We are looking forward to the Tour of Taiwan and we want to compete in all the sprint finishes. The beginning of the season has not been easy for me, with crashes, bad luck…. But we’re now ready and motivated with competition rhythm after Rwanda. In 2020 I was on the podium here and I think that with the team we have here, we will achieve a lot of success in Taiwan”
Biagio Conte, sports director: “Stages are not really tough on paper, I think the race will be decided on the second day but the rest will be sprint finishes. It won’t be easy to control with a line-up of five riders, but I think our guys are at a great level. The speed of Peñalver and David Martín will certainly be the protagonist, Davide de Cassan and Garosio can surely be in the fight for the queen stage and Fran Muñoz gives us versatility to control but also to have his own chances to fight. I’m sure we’ll come back from Taiwan with great results”.
