World Wide Cycling
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World Wide Cycling sent the Village Peddler International Team to Asia to participate in the Tour of South China Sea. Read the report from Nathan Dahlberg.
The Tour of South China 2000 takes the participants from Hong Kong to China to Macau. This 8 days stage race starts on December 24 and finishes on January 1. The following teams will take part: China Team, Hong Kong Team, Macau Team, China PLA, Guangdong Province, Shenzhen City, Australia, Czech Republic, France, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Slovakia, Chinese Taipei, Iran, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippine, Thailand, Vietnam
The program of the race is as follows:
Sunday, December 24, 15Km Time Trial, Bride Pool Road, Tai Po, Hong Kong Monday, December 25, 105km Road Race, Tsing Yi, New Territories, Hong Kong Tuesday, December 26, 60km Criterium, Shenzhen Stadium, Shenzhen, P.R. of China Wednesday, December 27, 130.4Km Road Race, Lake Tien Luk, Guangzhou Thursday, December 28, 120km Road Race, Wugushan, Zhongshan, P.R. of China Friday, December 29, 108KM Criterium, GP Racing Circuit, Zhuhai, P.R. of China Saturday, December 30, 108KM Road Race, Coloane, Macau Sunday, December 31, 66KM Criterium, Jockey Club, Macau Sunday, December 31, 2000 6KM Time Trial, Nam Wan Lake, Macau
The Village Peddler International Team starts with the following riders:
Klomp, Aldo Netherlands Best Results: 1st National Championship Track 1994 (Points Race), Regional Champion Time Trial 1994, 2nd Regional Championship under 23's 1996, 2000: 2nd Magraten, 3rd Beekbergen, 4th National Championship Track 50 km.
Susanto, Tonton Indonesia Best Results: 1st Asian "le tour de langkawi 1998", get redpolkadot jersey tour de Malboro Filipina, Asian Championship (ITT 50 km), get redpolkadot jersey tour of Pahang Malaysia.
Dahlberg, Nathan Nelson, New Zealand Best Results: participated twice in Tour de France, 1st stage Tour de Suisse,1st stage Tour de Mexico, 1st stage Tour of England, 1st Tour of Cascades. In 2000 Nathan won 10 races, one of them was a stage in the Pahang Cycling Challenge in Malaysia.
Ulzii-Orshikh, Jamsran Mongolia 2nd Asian Championships 1991 Beijing, 3rd Tour de Korea 1992 Seoul, 3rd Tour de Taiwan 1994, 1st Student Championships Ukrain 1994, 3rd World Championships B 1997 Ipoh Malaysia 1997, 1st and 3rd placings in stages Tour of South China Sea (Hong Kong, Macao, China) 1997, 2nd Perlis Open Malaysia 1998, National Championships: 3 time time trial/criterium/road in 1999 same in 2000, 2nd Asian Championships 2000
Reports by Nathan Dahlberg:
84 riders (21 teams of 4) lined up for the Tour of South China Sea 2000, to be raced in Hong Kong, China and Macau. There were two Trade Teams 3 (pro-teams) and our own Village Peddler International Team, consisting of Indonesian TonTon Susanto, Mongolian national Champion Jamsran Ulzii-Orsikh, Dutchman Aldo Klomp,and myself Nathan Dahlberg from New Zealand. The team was completed with the staff; Chris and Jan Whitley also from New Zealand.
The Village Peddler International Team, from left to right; Jamsran Ulzii-Orshikh, Aldo Klomp, Nathan Dahlberg, Tonton Susanto and coach Chris Whitley. Photo: Janice Whitley
Sunday December 24 2000 stage 1 time trial 15km Hong Kong Nicolas White of the Pro Hong Kong Savings Bank (South African) Team convincingly won the hilly and very cold opening Time Trial from the favourite and local hero Wong Kam Po (Hong Kong). Tonton did a good ride finishing 8th, but Ulzii who had just climbed of the plane from Mongolia (and hadn’t ridden his bike outside for one month because it is –25 Celsius there) the race was just a mission to finish.
Stage 1 1 Nicholas White (RSA) HSBC 20.53 2
Kam Po Wong (HKg) Hong Kong Cycling Association 0.35
8 Susanto Ton Ton (Ina) Village Peddler International 1.11 20 Aldo Klomp (Ned) Village Peddler International 2.05 23 Nathan Dahlberg (NZl) Village Peddler International 2.14 50 Ulzii Orshikin (Mgl) Village Peddler International 3.13
Monday December 25 2000 stage 2 Road race 96.2km Hong Kong Racing on Christmas Day?! The decisive break of the whole race went early on the hardest and hilliest stage of this Tour. Initially consisting of 15 riders including Tonton, only 7 survived to the finish. Although Tonton loves those long tough all day rides, it was his first experience with the cold (he doesn’t even have leg-warmers or a jacket!!) and his system self-destructed. As he went backwards, I found the first signs of form and rode away from the peloton to finish 8th, unfortunately still 2,5 minutes behind the leaders. The frustration of the race wasn’t to end as later that afternoon, Ulzii who had forgotten his passport was left stuck till late at the border of China as the race left Hong Kong.
We stayed at a beautiful resort outside of the city of Schezen, so with a little spare time I decided to ride into the city for a little touristing. The hotel staff had other ideas about crazy foreigners loose on the city and one particularly persistent guard chased me around for two hours on his motorbike.
Stage 2 1 Darren Benson (Aus) Turramurra Cycles 2.29.45 2 Shibuya Junichi (Jpn) RVB 3 Neil MacDonald (RSA)HSBC 4 Ho Siu Lun (HKg) Hong Kong Cycling Association 0.02
8 Nathan Dahlberg (NZl) Village Peddler International 2.39 48 Aldo Klomp (Hol) Village Peddler International 4.14 51 Susanto Ton Ton (Ina) Village Peddler International 4.14 65 Ulzii Orshikin (Mgl) Village Peddler 9.55
GC after stage 2 1 Ho Siu Lun (HKg) Hong Kong Cycling Association 2 Neil MacDonald (RSA) HSBC 3 Darren Benson (Aus) Turramurra Cycles
11 Nathan Dahlberg (NZl) Village Peddler International 14 Susanto Ton Ton (Ina) Village Peddler International 22 Aldo Klomp (Ned) Village Peddler International 65 Ulzii Orshikin (Mgl) Village Peddler
Tuesday December 26 2000 stage 3 Criterium 63km Long Hua, China A feature of the Tour is the short fast circuit races, and the 4,5 kilometer lap at Long Hua was fast! This is bike production city and a large percentage of the world’s bikes are produced right on the circuit.
The Village Peddler International Team getting ready to start, left to right: Tonton Susanto, Nathan Dahlberg, Aldo Klomp and Jamsran Ulzii-Orshikh. Photo: Chris Whitley
Despite very aggressive racing by all the teams in front of the huge crowds it came to a mass sprint. Aldo and myself gave Ulzii a lead-out, but it was the surprising Wong Kam Po showing another of his qualities, who easily won. Ulzii managed 6th, still not bad considering his training!
Stage 3 1 Kam Po Wong (HKg) Hong Kong Cycling Association 1.23.25 2 Shibuya Junichi (Jpn) RVB 3 Michael Simms (Aus) PER
6 Ulzii Orshikin (Mgl) Village Peddler International 72 Aldo Klomp (Ned) Village Peddler International 73 Nathan Dahlberg (NZl) Village Peddler International 75 Susanto Ton Ton (Ina) Village Peddler International
GC after stage 3 1 Ho Siu-lun (HKg) Hong Kong Cycling Association 4.14.54 2 Neil MacDonald (RSA) HSBC 3 Darren Benson (Aus) Turramurra Cycles
11 Nathan Dahlberg (NZl) Village Peddler International 14 Susanto Ton Ton (Ina) Village Peddler International 22 Aldo Klomp (Ned) Village Peddler International 65 Ulzii Orshikin (Mgl) Village Peddler International
Wednesday December 27 2000 stage 4 Road Race 80.8km Whugsishan - Zhongshan, China A crazy bunch sprint at the end of the 4th stage didn’t tell the intensity of the race. I felt strong and escaped with South-African Rodney Green, with just 7 kilometers to go. Unfortunately it was just 400 meters too far, and we had no result this day.
Stage 4 1 Lau King-yu (HKg) Hong Kong Cycling Association 1.46.28 2 Michael Simms (Aus) 3 Neil McDonald (RSA) HSBC
22 Ulzii Orshikin (Mgl) Village Peddler International 49 Susanto Ton Ton (Ina) Village Peddler International 62 Aldo Klomp (Ned) Village Peddler International 73 Nathan Dahlberg (NZl) Village Peddler International
GC after stage 4 1 Neil McDonald (RSA) HSBC 2 Ho Siu-lun (HKg) Hong Kong Cycling Association 3 Darren Benson (Aus) Turramurra Cycles
11 Nathan Dahlberg (NZl) Village Peddler International 14 Susanto Ton Ton (Ina) Village Peddler International 22 Aldo Klomp (Ned) Village Peddler International 65 Ulzii Orshikin (Mgl) Village Peddler International
Thursday December 28 2000 Restday. We had a training ride on the shores of the South China Sea, by the beachfront of Zhuhai, China. It was very beautiful, reminding of the French Riviera!
Friday December 29 2000 stage 5 Grand Priy Circuit 107.5km Zhuhai, China Racing around a car circuit is never very interesting but with a bit of cross wind the longest stage of the tour did get difficult. Constant aggression from our own Tonton and the Malaysians kept the race alive. But it was the Slowakian Pro-Team, showing themselves for the first time who ripped the field apart and a 13 men frontgroup formed for for the finish. All 4 South-African riders were there and as they lead out the team sprinter Malcolm Lange, I jumped 800 meters out. I didn’t have the legs of two days before though and was swamped in the sprint to finish 5th.
Stage 5 1 Malcolm Lange (RSA) HSBC 2.29.30 2 Neil MacDonald (RSA) HSBC 3 Kam Po Wong (HKg) Hong Kong Cycling Association
5 Nathan Dahlberg (NZl) Village Peddler International 15 Ulzii Orshikin (Mgl) Village Peddler 40 Susanto Ton Ton (Ina) Village Peddler International 47 Aldo Klomp(Ned) Village Peddler International
GC after stage 5 1 Neil MacDonald (RSA) HSBC 2 Ho Siu-lun (HKg) Hong Kong Cycling Association 3 Malcolm Lange (RSA) HSBC
11 Nathan Dahlberg (NZl) Village Peddler International 15 Susanto Ton Ton (Ina) Village Peddler International 23 Aldo Klomp (Ned) Village Peddler International 53 Ulzii Orshikin (Mgl) Village Peddler International
Saturday December 30 2000 stage 6 Road Race 90km Coloune Island, Macau After an uneventful border crossing (except for Ulzii of course!) we were ready for an exceptional fast rolling circuit on Coloune Island. Ton Ton was active up front early on as usual. 50 kilometres to go I found myself in a break. The Slovaks were getting more and more active, but it was Ton ton who leaded. The field came up with just 20 kilometres remaining. The speed really went up, the South-Africans with Tour leader Neil McDonald only closed the gap when Japanese rider Shibuya Junichi (6th G.C.) bridged up. Once we were caught the counter attacks came thick and fast and with 7 kilometres remaining I told Ulzii to attack. He looked as if I was crazy, so I went for myself. Slovak Dvorscik came along too and we managed to just hold on to the finish. Dvorscik easily beat me in the sprint, if you could call it sprinting what I was doing.
Nathan Dahlberg gets flowers for his second place, Champagne is coming up! Photo: Aldo Klomp
Stage 6 1 Milan Dvorscik (SVK) DTS 2.06.50 2 Nathan Dahlberg (NZl) Village Peddler International 3 Wang Guozhang (CHN) PLA
14 Ulzii Orshikin (Mgl) Village Peddler International 31 Aldo Klomp (Ned) Village Peddler International 40 Susanto Ton Ton (Ina) Village Peddler International
GC after stage 6 1 Neil MacDonald (RSA) HSBC 2 Ho Siu-lun (HKg) Hong Kong Cycling Association 3 Malcolm Lange (RSA) HSBC
11 Nathan Dahlberg (NZl) Village Peddler International 15 Susanto Ton Ton (Ina) Village Peddler International 23 Aldo Klomp (Ned) Village Peddler International 53 Ulzii Orshikin (Mgl) Village Peddler International
Sunday December 31 2000 stage 7 Criterium 66km Taipa Island Up till now the wheather had been much cooler then I would expect, but the wind blowing from Central China on this last day of 2000 was almost freezing. Aldo, Ulzii and the Slovaks all showed great form but despite the high speed it came to a field sprint where none of us placed. We have spent another two days in Macau celebrating the New Year and touristing. Tour of South China Sea with its short fast and exciting stages is a real fun race. Hopefully we’ll be back!
Stage 7 1 Malcolm Lange (RSA) HSBC 1.25.46 2 Shibuya Junichi (JPN) RVB 3 Masahiko Mifune (JPN) JLB
25 Ulzii Orshikin (Mgl) Village Peddler International 27 Susanto Ton Ton (Ina) Village Peddler International 51 Nathan Dahlberg (NZl) Village Peddler International 54 Aldo Klomp (HOL) Village Peddler International
General Classification:
1 Neil MacDonald (RSA) HSBC 2 Ho Siu-lun (HKg) Hong Kong Cycling Association 0.10 3 Malcolm Lange (RSA) HSBC 0.16
10 Nathan Dahlberg (NZl) Village Peddler International 4.04 15 Susanto Ton Ton (Ina) Village Peddler International 5.16 23 Aldo Klomp (HOl) Village Peddler International 6.10 53 Ulzii Orshikin (Mgl) Village Peddler International 12.59
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