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Tour of Thailand - 2.2
Thailand, December 16-21, 2007
Main Page Results Overall standings Next Stage
Stage 1 - December 16: Khao Yai National Park - Nakhon Ratchasima, 146.58 km
Selections made on first stage
By Steve Thomas in Thailand
The sun was out and the skies were blue for the first stage of this year’s Tour de Thailand. Starting from the Khao Yai National Park, to the west of Bangkok, the race will take six days to cover the 999 kilometres to the northern hill city of Chiang Mai, famous for it’s elephants and outdoor activities.
Some 81 riders lined up for the race; teams including Giant Asia, Iran, Japan, India, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia lined up against several European and Asian Continental teams, with Iranian super climber Ahad Kazemi starting as overall favourite. The first stage started high in the park, with a 10-kilometre descent, which unfortunately wiped out three of the Indian team riders almost before the race had started. As soon as the flat lands were reached, the riders hit a nasty headwind which shredded the field to bits.
Coming into the finish two riders were just a few seconds clear of a twenty plus strong lead group, which contained most of the pre-race favourites. The sprint for the first stage win and the opening leaders jersey went to Thai national team rider Prajak Mahawong, while the second half of the field trailed in some five minutes later.
Stage two will see the race hit the first real hills, which should shake things up some, possibly in the favour of the strong-climbing Iranian team.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Steve Thomas
- A long, narrow lane and a long hard chase down a straight highway.
- A UAE rider tries to hold the wheel
- A Dutch rider tries to drink while chasing.
- The hot weather meant lots of water coming in and going out.
- Left turn
- A rattling bottle cage gets some attention.
- The teams arrive for stage one.
- The Japanese team found new places to stash team radios
- The riders from the Philippines had a unique position for the radios.
- The race officials get their paperwork in order before the start.
- The start of stage one of the 2007 Tour of Thailand
- The Indian riders were out of contention early on.
- It was a long, hard chase for the second group.
- The chase group was shattered , here the Japanese Matrix and Cycleworks team try to get on terms.
- The Giant ART team was not as dominant as in past years.
- The UAE team had very distinctive kits.
- A Cycleworks team rider from Singapore shows the effects of the heat.
- A hot and windy day made for misery at the back of the bunch.
- A Japanese rider hangs onto the chase group.
Results
1 Prajak Mahawong (Tha) Thailand 3.32.25 (41.40 km/h) 2 Irish Valenzuela (Phi) Philippines 3 Nguyen Hung Mai (Vie) Vietnam 0.16 4 Badr Mohammed Banihammead (UAE) United Arab Emirates 5 Shiri Sisan Hamid (IRI) Tabriz Petrochem 6 Suhardi Hassan (Mas) Malaysia 0.18 7 Kuan Hua Lai (Tpe) Giant Asia Racing 8 Kohei Uchima (Jpn) Japan 9 Muhammad Rauf Nur Nisbah (Mas) Malaysia 10 Jahanbanian Hossein (IRI) Tabriz Petrochem 11 Tonton Susanto (Ina) Faeso Denmark 12 Akira Kakinuma (Jpn) Japan 13 Warren Davadilla (Phi) Philippines 14 Malaya van Ruitenbeek (Ned) Kuota Senges 15 Okan Bualoi (Tha) Thailand 16 Ahad Sarai Kazemi (IRI) Tabriz Petrochem 17 Maros Kovac (Svk) Dukla Trencin 18 Paul Griffin (Irl) Giant Asia Racing 19 Soren Peterson (Den) Kuota Senges 20 Jurag Sagan (Svk) Dukla Trencin 21 Jatuphoom Lekhawat (Tha) All Star Thailand 22 Lloyd Lucien Reynante (Phi) Philippines 23 Phuchong Sai-Udomsin (Tha) Thailand 24 Thomas Just (Den) Faeso Denmark 0.42 25 Hsiang Kuei (Tpe) Giant Asia Racing 3.33 26 Jan Sipeky (Svk) Dukla Trencin 27 Masakazu Ito (Jpn) Japan 28 Partovi Mehdi (IRI) Tabriz Petrochem 29 Muhammad Zamri Saleh (Mas) Malaysia 30 Morten Knudsen (Den) Faeso Denmark 8.07 31 Panup Koonrungruangkit (Tha) Thailand 8.27 32 Agung Alisyahbana (Ina) Customs Cycling 33 Ryan Ariham (Ina) Faeso Denmark 34 Omar Almansory (UAE) United Arab Emirates 35 Ghafari Vahid (IRI) Tabriz Petrochem 36 Mitsuhiro Matsumura (Jpn) Matrix Powetag 37 Yousif Banihammad (UAE) United Arab Emirates 38 Thanawat Somna (Tha) All Star Thailand 39 Wim Spijkerboer (Ned) Ysselstreek 40 Muhammad Faris Abdul Razak (Mas) Malaysia 41 Wakumoto Masaki (Jpn) Matrix Powetag 42 Endra Wijaya (Ina) Customs Cycling 43 Mohamed Almurawwi (UAE) United Arab Emirates 44 Natthapon Jeebthaworn (Tha) Thailand 45 Edi Purnomo (Ina) Customs Cycling 46 Seree Ruangsiri (Tha) All Star Thailand 47 Li We Chen (Tpe) Giant Asia Racing 48 Yoshimitsu Hiratsuka (Jpn) Japan 49 Trung Hieu Dang (Vie) Vietnam 50 Yen Lin Huang (Tpe) Giant Asia Racing 51 Danny Fang (Sin) Cycleworx Singapore 52 Cong Hieu Mai (Vie) Vietnam 53 Daisuke Hioki (Jpn) Matrix Powetag 54 Phat Dat Trinh (Vie) Vietnam 55 Victor Espiritu (Phi) Philippines 56 Patnk Tybor (Svk) Dukla Trencin 57 Matthias Berting (Ger) Kuota Senges 58 Seiichi Koshiumi (Jpn) Japan 59 Muhammad Fauzan Ahmad Lufti (Mas) Malaysia 60 Christoph von Kleinsorgen (Ger) Kuota Senges 61 Bjorn Glasner (Ger) Kuota Senges 62 Greg Svarc (Sin) Cycleworx Singapore 63 Thijs Poelstra (Ned) Ysselstreek 64 Alexander van Bavel (Ned) Ysselstreek 65 Ryan Ariham (Ina) Faeso Denmark 66 Janaidi Bin Hashim (Sin) Cycleworx Singapore 67 Yuli Haryanto (Ina) Customs Cycling 68 Lex Nederlof (Ned) Ysselstreek 69 Yoshimitsu Tsuji (Jpn) Matrix Powetag 70 Roel de Vries (Ned) Ysselstreek 71 Chaturat Phongphanat (Tha) All Star Thailand 72 Masahiko Mifune (Jpn) Matrix Powetag 73 Matej Vyssna (Svk) Dukla Trencin 8.52 74 Nicholas Dale Swallow (Sin) Cycleworx Singapore 12.33 HD Saikrishna Chindam (Ind) India HD Khalld Al Shambih (UAE) United Arab Emirates DNF Jesper Norgaard Lund (Den) Faeso Denmark DNF Subhash Chander (Ind) India DNF Sushil Kumar (Ind) India DNF Jorawar Singh (Ind) India DNF Ramappa Yengeth (Ind) India
