World Wide Cycling
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The
Marco Polo Cycling Team travelled to China to participate in the Qinghai Lake
Tour 2003. Following
riders were on the team: Michael
Carter (USA) Nathan
Dahlberg (New Zealand) Jamsran
Ulzii-Orshikh (Oggi) (Mongolia) Kay
Kermer (Germany) Cory
Lange (Canada) Blake
Caldwell (USA) The
staff were: Peter
Coates: Team Director / Soigneur Wilco
Geerts: Mechanic Linna
Zhang: Soigneur/Translator
The
programm of the Tour of Qinghai Lake 2003: August
10: Stage 1 circuit race Xining; flat; 8.7 km x 10 August
11: Stage 2 Xining to Xihaizhen; 184.7 km; one very long, high climb untill km
100 by the looks of it, if I see correctly 1200 meters altitude diff: 2200 -
3400; then some little climbs and downhill finish. August
12: Stage 3 Xihaizhen-Niaodao 152.1km; biggest climb in the beginning again,
this time just over 300m alt diff., then couple smaller ones, flat finish. August
13: Stage 4: Niaodao-Qinghai Lake Hotel 120.2 km; pretty flat, no more then 100m
alt diff per climb. August
14: Stage 5; Qinghai Lake Hotel- Xining 175.5 km some rollers and then down a
long way. August
15: Stage 6, Xining to Men Yuan; 153 km; BIG climb km 80-120 cannot read alt
meters on the fax... finish downhill again. August
16: Stage 7; Men Yuan To Xining 170 km; BIG climb 1000 meters alt diff between
km 110 and 140 then 30 km down, finish downhill again. August
17: Stage 8; circuit race in Xining 96 km (8km x 12); flat Report
by Peter Coates and Nathan Dahlberg: The
Second Tour de Qinghai Lake International Cycling Race. The Tour of Qinhai lake in only its second year is recognisably the second largest and most important race in Asia and has been one of our teams major objectives for the season 2003. The strongest opposition on paper from the 20 teams of 6 had to be the Italian national professional mixed team, consisting of 6 division one professional's, the next best were the Giant Asian Professional cycling team and then Flanders I team Nova, a strong second division Belgium team. There are always the locals to worry about as well, MP's own Wong Kam Po riding for the Hong Kong National team this time and highly motivated Chinese rider Wang Gaungzhou ,who was 3 days in leaders jersey last year.
One
Marco Polo Cycling Team rider somewhere near the opening ceremony in Xining.
(Photographer: Linna Zhang) This
year's race was 8 days long with 4 days ridden at an elevation over 3200 meters
including two mountain stage's that saw the bike riders climb two huge climbs
that were over 30km long and just under 4000 meter's, made it look once again, a
race for the climbers.
At
the opening ceremony, from left to right; Nathan Dahlberg, Jamsran
Ulzii-Orshikh, Cory Lange, Kay Kermer, Michael Carter and Blake Caldwell.
(Photographer: Linna Zhang) August
10: Stage 1 circuit race Xining The
first stage a 87km circuit race in Xining was won by Marco Polo rider Wong
Kam-Po riding for the Hong Kong China team for Dave Mac Kenzie of I team Nova.
The 200.000 strong crowd of Chinese spectators went wild after watching one of
their 'own' win and both Wong and Dave had to escape the podium by ambulance !!!
The best Marco-Polo riders where Ulzii-Orshikh Jamsran finishing 7th and Kay
Kermer 8th. August
11: Stage 2 Xining to Xihaizhen The
next day the race started in Xining and raced towards the Tibetan plateau to a
town called Xihaizhen at an altitude of 3200meters. This was a difficult stage that saw the rides climb a very
long steady climb that was over 80km long. A dangerous break developed
immediately and Marco Polo with the Spanish team set about controlling the
deficit. At the top of the climb under the attacks of Mike Carter the bike race
split up into several small bunches that regrouped and then split up again when
on the plateau due to the strong cross winds. This day showed us the strength
and depth of the Italian riders who had played a very low key race tactically
till now, Mattea Carrara finishing alone and Elia Aggiano winning from the
following group a few seconds back which contained Michael Carter in 9th and
Ulzii-Orshikh Jamsran was 14th a further one minute and thirty second's down. Amazing
views around the Qinghai Lake, flowers and snowy mountains and the field breaks
up into pieces. (Photographer: Linna Zhang) This
stage was a very difficult day for the Korea riders with 5 not finishing and one
of those riders collapsed at top of the climb and fell into a coma with his
heart stopping. He received medical
attention straight away and came out of the coma half an hour later.
The reason for this happened is that racing at these high altitudes can
be very dangerous for some riders. The
race organizing committee had stressed this at the beginning. So they had
organized three medical teams and one team specializing in high altitude to make
it safe for all riders taking part. August
12: Stage 3 Xihaizhen-Niaodao
The
caravane behind the race riding in a desert landscape at the Qinghai-plateau.
(Photographer: Linna Zhang) The
3rd stage was raced on the plateau beside Qinghai Lake over a distance of 152 km
starting from Xihaizhen to Niaodao. The
morning was cold and wet and the wining break, once again under the impulsion of
Mike Carter went in the first 28km which climbed steadily up 600 meters from the
3100meter high start town. Marco Polo was definitely the team of the day with
four in the break of 18 riders. The stage was one by Wang Gouzhang from China
with Marco-Polo rider Jamsran Ulzii-Orshikh coming in second. Michael Cater was
15th Blake Caldwell was 17th and Cory Lange was 18th.
"Old
friends", Oggi (Jamsran Ulzii-Orshikh) from Mongolia and Nathan Dahlberg
from New Zealand. (Photographer: Linna Zhang) August
13: Stage 4: Niaodao-Qinghai Lake Hotel Stage
4 on paper looked the easiest day of the bike race. The stage covered only 120km and was relative flat from
Niaodao to Qinghaihu Hotel and basically all tail wind. It was the fastest stage
with an average speed of 48.456km/h, however for Marco-Polo it was as disastrous
day, with all the team riders missing the split in the side wind. The best rider
this day for Marco-Polo a non riding team member who racing for Indonesia team
was Anno Pederson and he finishing 21st. The
winner that day was David McKenzie from team Flanders. This day we saw our best
rider Michael Carter loosing 1minute and forty seconds on general classment. August
14: Stage 5; Qinghai Lake Hotel- Xining Stage
5 was mostly down hill and covered 172.5km in wet and cold conditions. The
bad weather and hard head wind blocked the race reducing it to a bunch sprint.
The day started from Qinghaihu Hotel to Xining. Michael Cater trying to win back
some morale for the team after the miserable day before took of on an early solo
break winning both mountain and town sprints a move that would place him later
in the top 3 on both classments. The stage was one by Carrara Matteo of Italy,
and the best Marco-Polo rider's were Kay Kermer finishing 12th Blake Caldwell
14th and Jamsran Ulzii-Orshikh 24th. August
15: Stage 6, Xining to Men Yuan
Qinghaimountains:
Racing at high altitude. (Photographer: Linna Zhang) Stage
6 was the first mountain stage of the race between Xining to Menyuan over
153kms. The race was highly animated before the main climb but despite the race
been already in several groups before the climb the Mountain was a 30km giant
straight out of the Tour De France and all the real action took place there.
Marco-Polo had Michael Carter once again riding super in the front group of 5
and just a minute behind in the second group we had two more riders, Blake
Caldwell and Jamsran Ulzii-Orshikh. Blake Caldwell being the youngest member of
the team only just 19, performed an incredible ride. He finished 13th 51 seconds
down on the leaders and in the same group as Jamsran Ulzii-Orshikh came in 9th.
Michael Carter was 4th and the Italians again showed their strength with Lunghi
Denis winning and Cunego Damiano coming in second. That
night the town of Menyuan put on an incredible nights entertainment for both
race and local towns people and every foreigner had to sign a million autographs
- rider and official alike!! August
16: Stage 7; Men Yuan To Xining Stage
7 started in Menyuan and finished Huzhu 170km away. The race entered a national
park and the scenery was even more stunning and beautiful than the day before
and from the mountain views we could have easily been in Switzerland. Race
leader Wang Guangzhong had once again had an incredible tour, been leader since
stage 3. However despite several hard days racing the general classment still
lay wide open and just as last year
the whole race was to be decided on this last mountain stage. Italian Damiano
launched an attack at the base of the days main climb and was joined by
Mizabani, but unfortunately for us Mike Carter just missed the move which
decided the stage and race. Finally with the first warm day the Marco-polo team
showed their true potential with 5 rider's coming in the top 2 groups. Our best
rider was Blake Caldwell coming in 9th Michael Carter was 14th, Kay Kermer 19th,
Jamsran Ulzii-Orshikh 21st and with the Team Captain Nathan Dahlberg 26th. The
Italian Cunego Damiano won the stage.
Team
manager Peter Coates and Mechanic Wilco Geerts. (Photographer:
Linna Zhang) August
17: Stage 8; circuit race in Xining Stage
8 a 98km Circuit race in Xining, saw 81 riders from that original 120 starters
start. 78 finished this stage as three had to stop due to sickness and one of
these riders unfortunately was young Blake Cardwell who had ridden an incredible
race till now and definitely is a big future talent. Ronny Lauke won the stage
for the German team. A small breakaway of ten riders rode away 20km after the
start were never seen by the main bunch through out the rest of the race. No
Marco-Polo rider's were present in this relatively easy break and our best on
this stage was Jamsran Ulzii-Orshikh who finished 22nd. Cunego
Damiano of Italy won the race, Mizbani Irangagh Ghader of Giant Asia Cycling was
second, Wang GouZhang of China came in third. The best Marco Polo rider was Michael Carter, who came in
8th, 2minute and 55 seconds down, Jamsran Ulzii-Orshikh was 12th 7minute and 5
seconds down. Italians
team won the team classment Giant Asia was second and then came in Marco-Polo
for 3rd place 15 minutes down. Only two teams finished with all six riders and
that was the Italians and the Chinese national team. Mizbani
of Giant won the mountains and Michael Carter was 3rd and he was also third in
the sprint ace, which was won by Daryl Impey from South Africa.
The
Marco Polo Cycling Team in Xining, from left to right; Cory Lange (Canada),
Blake Caldwell (USA), Nathan Dahlberg (New Zealand), Michael Carter (USA), Kay
Kermer (Germany) and Jamsran Ulzii-Orshikh (Mongolia). (Photographer:
Linna Zhang) The
Second Tour de Qinghai Lake International Cycling race was once again a great
success. This year the racing was harder due to the tough weather conditions and
increased race distances. With more town finishes the number of spectators
watching the race had increased, two-fold. The Marco Polo team and Mike Carter
in particular, rode a good race but race tactics which had a bigger role this
year than the year before played into the hands of the Italians, who sat back
till the very end watching the other teams fight it out amongst themselves. The
accommodation and food was of high standard, and the races organizing just as
high standard as any top European races. The best thing about this race this
year was that there were no transfers between stage's, as each day's racing
starting where the previous days finished. Marco
Polo would like to thank the China Cycling Association for inviting us and we
looks forward in racing this race again next year. Peter
Coates Team Manager. Nathan
Dahlberg team captain
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