Tour of Korea - 2.2

Korea, May 4-10, 2006

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Stage 3 - May 6: Chuncheon - Heonnae, 168km

Smiling German has much to be happy about

Ever cheerful Giant Asia rider Tobias Erler was perhaps the only person in the Tour of Korea field with something to smile about today after putting three minutes into his challengers on a cold, wet and windy stage. Finishing with the same time as Drapac Porsche's Stu Shaw after yesterday's stage, Erler began the day with the yellow jersey, awarded on a countback.

Despite struggling on the early climb he got stronger as the torrential rain and low temperatures sapped the energy of his rivals. The field was whittled down significantly on the first 8km climb, and shortly after a break of six riders with representatives from Uzbekistan, Skil Shimano, Drapac Porsche, Team Nippo and Sang Moo forced Erler and his Giant Asia team into a long chase across the valley floor before the second climb at the 60km mark.

After a 40km section of rolling climbs which saw a number of attacks from Sang Moo County, Seoul City and Skil Shimano, Erler attacked at the beginning of the gradual ascent to the second KOM at Jinbu-ryeong Mountain Pass (130km) with Seoul City's Oh Se Yong. Together the duo built a 3 minute lead despite the efforts of Drapac Porsche to bring them back, and now hold a comfortable margin going into tomorrow's 80km Yang Yang criterium. Drapac Porsche will be hoping for weather more like Australia than Germany for the remainder of the tour.

Photography

For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here

Images by Daniella Mollica/Drapac Porsche

Riders travel through a lush valley in Korea

Results

1 Tobias Erler (Ger) Giant Asia