Report: Tour of Taiwan Stage 2

James Gullen wins stage two of the Tour de Taiwan ahead of teammate Edmund Bradbury in second. Gullen now leads overall

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Report: Tour of Taiwan Stage 2

Team Press Release

James Gullen wins stage two of the Tour de Taiwan ahead of teammate Edmund Bradbury in second. Gullen now leads overall

A UCI win for James Gullen who used his TT skills to great affect to solo to victory on stage 2 and now leads overall.

The stage, which finished in New Taipei City, was remarkably sunnier compared with Sunday’s opening stage, which saw Russell Downing claim second on a rain-soaked street of downtown Taipei. Crashes took down Brenton Jones and Edmund Bradbury in the final corners, forcing Downing to adapt his lead-out for Brenton to turn it into a long sprint to the line.

“After yesterday’s stage and perfect riding from the team, we were disappointed a stage win didn’t come to fruition. Today the riders were really focused to bring home a win. The team was working for Russell Downing, with the aim of positioning him for the intermediate sprints and take time bonuses and move him into the yellow jersey”, explained race team manager, Tim Kennaugh.

Halfway through the 114km stage, the peloton split as attacks came on the only climb of the day. A mechanical for Ian Bibby meant he was unable to feature in the 30-rider move. The group, containing Edmund Bradbury and James Gullen, worked well to maintain their lead over the rest of the chasing pack.

Edmund Bradbury and James Gullen

“When it was clear that the group with Russ and Brenton wouldn’t make it back to us, Tim [Kennaugh] adapted our race plan and told us to ride for ourselves. I put in a big attack at 5km to go and got my head down, into time trial mode and went for the line”, explained stage winner, James Gullen.

Behind, Edmund Bradbury sprinted to second to take the time bonuses away from the yellow jersey of Columbian, Elvin Avila, making it a 1-2 stage result for JLT Condor. The racing continues tomorrow with a 118km stage and summit finish in Jiaobanshan Park.

The race is live on the Tour de Taiwan YouTube channel and on Eurosport Asia/Eurosport Australia from 8am (local time) / 1am (GMT).

Stage 1 and Russ Downing (right) is second in the crash affected sprint
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Tour de Normandie
Elsewhere a five man team competed in the Tour de Normandie (UCI 2.2). The seven stage race concluded on Sunday where JLT Condor’s Alex Frame sprinted to 3rd.

JLT Condor’s Steve Lampier and Alistair Slater both finished in the top ten of the general classification. Steve Lampier, who finished 7th overall, was the highest placed British rider.

“We had a very solid result. Stage one featured a lot of bad luck and Alex [Frame] and Tom [Moses] crashed heavily. Alex found his feet and was consistently in the top 5 in the sprints”, explained team manager, John Herety.

“The rolling terrain, relentless attacks and hard roads is a good building block for the team ahead of the Tour de Yorkshire and British Cycling Spring Cup, which is part of the qualification process for the Tour of Britain.”

Tour of Taiwan Stage 2
Stage 2
1. James Gullen
2. Edmund Bradbury
3. Edwin Avila

30. Brenton Jones
50. Ben Hetherington
79. Russell Downing
91. Ian Bibby
98. James Mclaughlin

Overall
1. James Gullen JLT Condor34:20:45
2. Edwin Avila Team Illuminate 0:01
3. Edmund Bradbury JLT Condor 0:09

29. Brenton Jones JLT Condor 0:58
51. Ben Hetherington Memil Pro Cycling 1:50
52. Russell Downing JLT Condor 1:53
91. Ian Bibby JLT Condor 6:49
97. James Mclaughlin Team Hrinkow Advarics Cycleang 7:55

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