Report – Hugh Carthy wins big in Korea

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Hugh Carthy of Rapha Condor JLT wins the UCI 2.1 Tour of Korea to follow on from Mike Cuming’s win last year

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Report – Hugh Carthy wins big in Korea

EVENT REPORT  - Photos ‘Aaron Lee’ & ‘Tour de Korea 2014’

Hugh Carthy and his Rapha Condor JLT team reigned over the peloton in today’s 82km final stage, permitting 2nd-placed Choe Hyeongmin (Geumsan Insam Cello) and 3rd-placed Jack Haig (Avanti Racing Team) virtually no breathing room to improve on their ranking, as riders zipped along at an average speed of 45.75kph.

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KSPO’s Park Sungbaek, overall winner of the 2012 Tour de Korea, led the field home in a bunch sprint. The young British squad concluded the 1,259km, UCI 2.1-ranked, race today at the top of the General Classification (Carthy), Best Young Rider Classification (Carthy) and second in the KOM classification (Elliot Porter).

Behind the scenes, Tom Southam, Rapha Condor JLT’s Sports Director, was responsible for ensuring the game plan was adhered to over the eight-day event. “It’s so rare that you get a race where everything goes to plan,” said Southam, moments after Carthy was swept across stage eight’s finish line in the mass sprint.

“The boys made two mistakes I think. One was letting the gap go out to four minutes on the day that Rich (Handley) punctured – not keeping it at two minutes by making the race a bit harder. But then we always wanted somebody else to lead the race. Once Burgos-BH took control, and they wanted to ride like a traditional European team swapping off, that was good for us. We kept getting guys in the breaks, kept putting guys down the road, kept stressing them out and it worked perfectly.”

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19-year old Carthy – whose best result before this race was last month’s Tour of Japan, where he placed 6th on GC – was full of praise for his teammates, singling out Richard Handley, who briefly held the leader’s jersey after winning the second stage in Muju, and climber Elliot Porter.

“We had to be very vigilant and all ride as one,” Carthy said proudly. “We controlled the race from kilometre zero and a few of the sprinter’s teams were keen to keep it together (today) for a bunch sprint so we had a little bit of help along the way. It was quite a simple stage on paper but in practice it was always going to be difficult. I’m glad to get it away now and I’m pleased with the outcome.”

“Rich has been the road captain for the week. He’s been here last year, he keeps cool in stressful situations. He keeps us all calm, he knows the score and he’s been around for a few years now. He’s been a key part of this week. He’s strong enough on his own to win”.

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“Elliot has had a good week. He wore the KOM jersey for two days and did well to hold onto it for so long. He’ll be back in the future. He’s got a lot of potential and he played a big part in this week. We’ve all pulled together incredibly well. We all deserve it.”

Local lad Choe Hyeongmin, who was left pondering what might have been after mistakenly taking the race-convoy diversion in the closing metres of yesterday’s stage, whilst racing alongside eventual stage-winner Carthy, was satisfied with his overall result.

BRIEF RESULTS

STAGE INDIVIDUAL CLASSIFICATION
1) Park Sungbaek (KSPO) 82.0km in 1.47:33
2) Park Keonwoo (Korea National Team) @ st
3) Anthony Giacoppo (Avanti Racing Team) @ st

FINAL GENERAL CLASSIFICATION
1) Hugh Carthy (Rapha Condor JLT) 1’259km in 30.11:52
2) Choe Hyeongmin (Geumsan Insam Cello) @ 0:19″
3) Jack Haig (Avanti Racing Team) @ 0:20”

CLASSIFICATION WINNERS
Race Leader (Yellow jersey): Hugh Carthy (Rapha Condor JLT)
Points Leader (Sky Blue jersey): Grega Bole (Vini Fantini Nippo)
King of the Mountains Leader (Polka-Dot jersey): Jang Kyung-gu (Korail Cycling Team)
Best Young Rider (White jersey): Hugh Carthy (Rapha Condor JLT)
Best Team: Avanti Racing Team

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